Going Back
by Ellie Parker
Summary: CHANGED SUMMARY! SAME BOOK FROM BEFORE! After the rebellion, all Peeta and Katniss is a normal life. Little do they know, there is another Hunger Games and war lurking right around the corner. And one of them will suffer an untimely demise.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello…so I'm really bad at doing the whole introduction speech so I'm just gonna give you the logistics.**

**Fifth fanfic, did three others for Maximum Ride and one for Fallen. If you're a fan of either of those feel free to check them out. I like reviews, they fuel my writing. I'm starting school in a couple days so I'll probably be updating once or twice a week because I get a lot of homework in my classes. **

**About me: love God, love life, love my boy. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything…Oh yeah, this story take place five years after the revolution. Peeta and Katniss are already married.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

The damp mud was soaking through my jeans and onto my shins and the rest of my lower legs. But I didn't move. "Come on," I urged, "stay still and this will be easy. Fast. You won't feel a thing." I whispered. Pulling the knife from behind me back and twisting my wrist so that the fox would not see it I inched slowly forward, taking slow, quiet breaths and avoiding loose twigs that would snap under my legs. But then the rabbit took off because a certain someone decided to yell my name. Really loudly. I lost sight of it before I could pull an arrow back in my bow.

I stood up from my hiding place in the brush and saw him standing about thirty feet away. He had obviously been looking for me. "Are you crazy?" I asked, walking out of the thorn bushes, being careful to not get my jacket stuck on one of the branches.

"Um, you're the one that was just sitting in a thorn bush and you're asking if I'm the crazy one." Peeta said as I walked toward him, putting my arrow back in the sheath. "How's hunting?" he asked conversationally, looking at me with the look he knows softens me up.

But I ignore his gaze and keep walking right past him.

"Okay, I screwed up. But you have to admit, the fact you didn't hear me coming is a good thing." He pressed, walking close behind me and I did have to admit that he was walking quieter.

After crawling under the fence I said, "But I could have had it."

"You were trying to kill something without shooting it, you mean?" he asked, walking on my left side like always.

I nodded. "I was trying that thing that Gale suggested to me, the whole coaxing an animal toward you and then killing it." I told him.

Peeta stopped in his tracks. "Gale? When did you talk to him?"

"I thought I told you." I said. "He called the other day; I guess you were at work. He just wanted to check in." I assured him.

He started walking again but his brows were knitted together signifying that he was deep in thought. We didn't talk the rest of the way back. Instead of walking through town, where the new city square was sure to be mobbed with people on their way home from work, we skirted the fence and took a short cut into the Victor's Village. Finally as we walked up the steps to our front porch Peeta speaks. "Were you scared I would freak out?"

I shook my head and held our front door open for him. "No. Evening Greasy Sae." I called out to her. She was vacuuming the kitchen. She looked up and smiled and waved to us, then gestured to the notepad that we kept by the door in case we needed to make note of something for someone that lived in the house. I read it and sighed. "We need to go see Haymitch." I say to Peeta.

"I know, that's why I came and got you. Now put your weapons away and meet me over there." He told me, walking out the door and letting it slam.

Greasy Sae turned the vacuum off and wheeled it off to the cleaning supply closet while I stowed my bow and arrows behind the coats in our hall closet. Then she came in and checked something that was cooking on the stove. I removed my muddy boots as she said, "What's wrong with him? Is he having another fit?"

"No, those are long gone. He's just mad that I never told him about Gale calling." I said, removing my socks too.

Greasy Sae turned around to look at me. "I thought you called him."

I walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall and shook my hair out of its braid. "That's what I told him. He'd be furious if he found out that I've been calling Gale once a week for the past few months." I told her.

She walked up to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. Her touch got to be so comforting and familiar it was as if she was my second mother, which in a way she was. "He'll find out eventually."

"And I'll take care of it then. Trust me, we used to keep secrets from each other all the time." I pulled on my everyday wear boots and looked at Greasy Sae with what I knew was an unbecoming glare.

"You used to, not anymore." She said, gripping my hands in hers.

"He's probably been keeping secrets from me." I shrug. "You probably know what some of them are." I eye her curiously.

"No, I don't and if I did I would not tell you. I am responsible for keeping your marriage together, not ending it. Now don't you have someplace to be?" she said, whipping my butt with her towel.

"I'm going." I mumbled, slipping another knife under my jacket and into my belt that Beetee had created for me. The front looked like a regular belt that you would wear with jeans or khakis but the back was a weapon belt. It could hold three knives, two handguns, and four short arrows. Peeta had one too that he wore under his chef's coat everyday. I asked him about it on his first day of work after our honeymoon while I watched him get dressed. I had grown to love and admire the pattern his burn scars made on his forearms and neck as he had done the same with the ones I had on my back. I sometimes had moments where I simply could not look away. So when I asked him why he was wearing his belt to work he shrugged and said, "There is no such thing as being too careful." As time crept on though, he slowly stopped wearing it. At first I thought he forgot so I took it to the bakery but he politely declined it. Now he hardly ever wears it anymore. Quite frankly, I think he only wears it now to make me feel better about his safety. We still have moments where we are hit by this paranoia about how safe we are.

The early winter air bit at my face as I walked to Haymitch's house, which was only a couple doors down from my and Peeta's house. Unfortunately, that means I need to walk by my old house that always stirs painful memories. But then there is always the bittersweet memory of when Peeta proposed to me in my bedroom. It was kind of an accident on his part and embarrassing on mine, really.

I had just woken up from a nightmare that was apparently unnoticed by Peeta. His arms were tight around my waist, so tight that I was getting uncomfortable, letting me know that he was having a nightmare also. I wriggled one of my arms free and shook him awake. He started, his eyes flashing open and for a brief second he has that old look of insanity but it is gone nearly instantly, replaced by love and concern. "You okay?" he asked sleepily. "You have a nightmare?"

I nod and snuggle up against his body. "You had one too, didn't you? About me?"

"How could you tell?" he asked, smiling sadly.

"You were squeezing me a bit too tight." I told him, laughing but the sound came out a bit too clipped to relieve the tension.

"Sorry." I could see some embarrassment in his eyes and hurried to reassure him.

"It's okay, really. Haymitch told me that even when you are better we'll still see some of the hijacked you on occasion." I told him. "It's not like I'm totally sane either."

This time he smiled I could tell he was comforted by my words. "We are quite the pair of invalids." He sighed. "At least we will always be there for each other though."

"Sounds wonderful." I whisper, mostly to myself. "Always." I muse.

"That's my word." He whined sarcastically. "I guess I'll just have to settle on forever then." He laughed.

I roll my eyes and say, "So what, you're not getting down on one knee?"

His brows knit together. "What are you talking about?"

"Wait," I pulled away from him and sat up. "You weren't proposing?" He shook his head. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, it's just the way you said…"

He nodded. "Right, I was being careless." We both sat there for a while, not moving, listening to each other breathing. Finally he said, "But…I guess we can get married."

"Really?" I asked, the sound coming out slightly high-pitched.

"Yeah, since you are more awake then I am, can you go reach in the inside pocket of my jacket and pull out the thing that's inside?" he asked.

"Sure." I said, sliding off the bed and moving to where his jacket was hanging on the doorknob to my bathroom. I do as he says and pull out a black velvet box. I look at him with surprise in my eyes and he motions for me to go back to him.

"I was planning on doing this tomorrow morning. I was going to make you your favorite breakfast food; an omelet with peppers and mushrooms and cheddar cheese with toast and some chopped potatoes, but I guess since the moment is calling for it…" I sit on the bed as he slips out and onto the floor, getting down on one knee and opening the box to reveal a simple silver ring with one blue diamond in the middle, the same shade of blue as his eyes. "Katniss Everdeen, I love you more than my own life – which I have proven multiple times – and promise that if you marry me I will never try to kill you. Even though I am sure there will be moments where you frustrate the Hell out of me I will be sure that the only thing I break is a glass vase that is hopefully sitting nearby." He smiled, and I could just see him practicing his entire speech and even his smile at the end. They were perfectly executed.

"Yes." I said, rolling my eyes and looping my arms around his neck. As we ate breakfast that morning he finally told me that he wanted to propose to me in the house so that I would always have a happy memory to go along with the painful ones. We didn't need to talk about which house we would move into when we got married. Even though he slept in my house with me every night we automatically agreed that we would live in his house. Since then my house has remained vacant.

As I approach Haymitch's house I see Peeta waiting by the steps. "Better slow down some, I haven't been waiting long enough." He said sarcastically.

"Shut up." I grumble, bumping his shoulder as I walk by him. He stops me on the steps by tugging on my elbow.

"I'm sorry. I should know better than to be jealous of you talking to your lifelong best friend just one time when I am your husband and know that you are not going anywhere. You guys have only talked once, right?" he asked, his lips curving into a sideways smile.

I punch him on the arm lightly and laugh, letting my actions speak for themselves so I don't need to lie to him. Like I've been doing for quite some time. All thoughts of my misdeeds vanish though, because when I open the door I see him. Standing next to Haymitch, looking somewhat awkward but keeping his arm wrapped securely around the girl he's standing next to. I instinctively reach back for Peeta's hand but it is already sliding up and down my back in a calming motion.

But then a smile breaks onto my face and I move toward him. "Gale!" I exclaim, jumping into his arms and letting him clutch me tightly. He seems to have gotten taller because my feet dangle a couple inches off the ground. Finally I pull away from him and move to give the girl a hug. "Johanna, what are you guys doing here?"

"Well, I was going to tell you when you called me the other day but then I decided to just surprise you." Gale said, smiling and wrapping his arms around Johanna's waist again.

"Oh, oh. I see." I said quickly, forcing a smile and hoping Peeta didn't really register Gale's words. But of course a guy that feels he is competing for his girl's love will listen to every word his enemy says.

"You called him?" Peeta asks calmly.

I turn around and look at him. "Peeta…" I didn't know what else to say after that.

"Don't even try to explain. I'm going to assume that you didn't call him just the once either?" I don't answer but look away in shame instead.

"Cool. Really amazing Katniss. Obviously I was wrong about what I just said to you outside." He said, then walking out.

We all stood in a stunned silence before Haymitch said, "Katniss, what is going on?"

I turned to Gale. "You should have told me you were coming." I whispered before following Peeta out the door and chasing him down on the sidewalk.

**I know, that was an awkward place to end the chapter but I knew that this is just getting ridiculously long so I'll pick up right there in the second chapter. Please review! You don't need to be a member of Fanfiction to review you know.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back! To be totally honest I had no idea what I wanted to make out of this story. I had no plot when I began. So I basically came up with this on the fly and I know it's probably been done a million times before but this is like, the best. (My apologies if you have written one of those said fanfics.) Anyway, that being said, this story's plot will probably fluctuate a lot and go in a hundred different directions but hey, that's what will make it exciting!**

**I do recognize that Peeta was a little OOC last chapter and I promise that I will try my best to fix that. Thank you for your feedback!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

I walked back to the house and saw no sign of Peeta anywhere inside. I saw him go inside the house, so where was he? Greasy Sae was cooking dinner which surprised me because usually Peeta does that. I walked through the house and still saw no sign of him. Finally when I reemerged in the kitchen Greasy Sae pointed to the back porch. When I walked out to the railing on the deck and looked down I saw him sitting on the ground, picking at the dry grass in frustration. I sighed, walking down the steps to where he was and stood, towering over him. "I was wrong, I should have been honest with you. But really you are overreacting because I know that you are hiding something from me. So now that my secret is out you need to tell me whatever it is you are not telling me." I pointed out.

We stayed there for a while, not saying anything else. Peeta laughed and nodded. He ripped a chuck of grass up and let it fall slowly from his hand, similar to the way he slides flour off of his hand and onto bread dough. He looked up at me with a big fake smile on his face and amusement in his eyes. "I can't." he said in a joking voice. He stood up and walked past me and up the steps to the deck.

"What do you mean you can't? I'm your wife remember? The whole, what's mine is yours thing?" I ask, following him back into the house. Greasy Sae discreetly excuses herself from the room, predicting that we were about to get in a big fight.

He went directly to the stove to check on the pot that she was cooking in and stirred something around in it for a couple minutes. Then he shrugged. "Haymitch swore me to secrecy."

"When?" I demanded. The fact that he was choosing his words carefully tipped me off to his dishonesty. So I was pressing the matter more.

He sighed in frustration. "Just this morning. Why else do you think I came and got you so we could talk?"

"But I thought you said Haymitch swore you to secrecy."

He turned away from the stove and leaned against the counter behind him, crossing his arms and nodding. "He did." He said, "But nobody knew that Saint Gale would be gracing us with his presence. So obviously Haymitch is not going to say anything in front of him."

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm with Gale but didn't acknowledge it any other way because I knew it was true. "So it's some top-secret victor thing?" I said in mock excitement. Peeta laughed and turned back to the stove. "What?" I demanded. He shook his head and continued laughing. "Seriously? You're not going to tell me anything?" I huffed and approached the staircase that led up to our bedroom.

"Wait!" he called, still laughing and grabbing me by the waist. He picked me up off the ground in one arm and tickled my side with the other. I laughed and tried to fight my way out of his grip but knew that it was hopeless; I was completely at his mercy. He put me down to let me catch my breath but kept holding me. Then he was whispering in my ear. "I'm sorry about overreacting earlier. It's just that I want you all to myself. I know that you and Gale have a history and I can't change that. I also know that you chose me over him." He told me. "And I'm not going to tell you the dirty secret because I love seeing you happy and I do not want to ruin that." He walked without saying anything else, leaving me thinking, _Has he finally lost his mind?_

"Why would I be unhappy?" I join him next to the stove, watching him stir the stew.

"Katniss, you are not going to get me to tell you. Now if you want I can call Haymitch and if Gale is gone we can head over, take him dinner and we talk about it over a nice hot meal." He paused. "But I'm not going to be the one to tell you."

"Why not? You're supposed to tell me everything." I challenged.

"It will be easier for you to hear it if Haymitch tells you." Peeta says with a tone of finality.

I huff and sit down at the counter with my head resting on my arms and watch him cook in silence. The only problem with Peeta is that he was really hard to persuade. He may look nice but he is as stubborn as a bull. Finally I sigh and say, "I guess I'll give Haymitch a call." I don't need to be looking at Peeta to know that he is smiling.

The call was unnecessary though because as I walked over to the phone I saw Haymitch standing in the doorway, knocking on the glass. I let him in and instantly ask, "You have anything you want to tell me?"

He looked over to Peeta who was smirking and watching from a safe distance. "You told her you were hiding something?" Haymitch asks.

Peeta shrugs. "I didn't let her know anything else."

"Except that it's something bad." I say. Haymitch sighs and grips my shoulders, gently pushing me toward the dining table and sitting me down in one of the chairs.

He doesn't let go of me until after he says, "There's been a rebellion."

"What?" I exclaim. "When?" I turn to Peeta but he nods to Haymitch, telling me to listen.

"Katniss, you need to listen to me very clearly. President Paylor is dead. Snow's grandson has taken over." Haymitch says, not trying to make his words sound nice at all. The tension in the room was building and building until I knew that there was a bomb they were waiting to drop.

"This is why I voted no to that last Hunger Games." Peeta says from his place by the counter.

"Shut up Peeta." Haymitch snaps. "The grandson, Onyx, has reinstated the Hunger Games." He tells me, looking straight into my eyes. "But they're a little different. Now instead of it being twelve to sixteen year olds it is twenty to thirty-five year olds."

"But Peeta and I are victors, we're safe…" I begin but Haymitch is quick to cut me off.

"No one is safe anymore! Do you remember Onyx from the Games? He is vicious. He abolished the rule of the victors and he gets to pick the tributes himself. And you know who he has picked for District 12." Haymitch says in a threatening voice.

Oh my God. I was going back to the arena. There was still tension in the room though. The bomb had yet to drop. "What else aren't you telling me?" I whisper, unsure of my voice.

"Dr. Aurelius called today." Haymitch says. "He found something on the blood sample that he took last week." Then he looks up at Peeta who has circled around the counter and knelt by my side.

He looks up at me with wide, sad eyes. He shakes his head and I see tears pooling in his eyes as he drops the bomb. "Katniss, you're pregnant."

**That's it for Chapter Two! Slightly shorter than the first chapter. I may be updating this weekend at some point since I am off from school. Please review and give me your feedback. There's nothing I love more than constructive criticism. **

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm updating again. In case you haven't figured that out yet. Um…yeah…on to the next chapter I guess! P.S. Let me know if you ever get tired of me using exclamation points. Like, every thought in my head seems to have one at the end so that's why I use them a lot without really thinking about it! (Okay, that was just on purposes to try to be funny. But it probably wasn't so I'll stop babbling now.)**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

"What?" I breathe, looking down at Peeta, not knowing what to say. "How?" I ask.

Peeta raises his eyebrows. "Do I really need to answer that question?" he asks Haymitch who is still standing over me but is laughing.

"How are you laughing right now?" I exclaim. "Peeta and I are going to die and you are standing there laughing about it!"

Haymitch shakes his head. "You two are not going to die. I think surviving the arena two times kind of makes you veterans at this. You don't even need me as a mentor really." He says, sitting down and propping his feet up on the table and crossing his ankles. The picture of ease.

Peeta rolls his eyes. "Ignore him Katniss. Look, we can find some way out of this." He says, cupping one of my cheeks in his hand.

I gently remove his hand but fold it in both of mine. "We can't Peeta. It will be too suspicious if I bail out of the Games when I am pregnant after I've already been through the Games in this state once before."

"But we can say that we don't want you to have another miscarriage. That is what you guys said happened, right?" he asks, looking away from me for the first time to address Haymitch.

"Yes Peeta," I say, drawing his attention back to me, "but it is too risky. Onyx is too like Snow to just let it go if we let slip that our romance was all fake. Who knows what he would do!" I point out.

Peeta shakes his head and looks back at Haymitch, not needing to say that we need some time alone. Haymitch sighs and walks out. "I'll be back for dinner later." He calls over his shoulder.

Once we're alone I let the tears and panic creep into my eyes. "Peeta, what are we going to do? I can put on a brave face for him only so much!" I say, the tears leaking out.

Peeta stands up and picks me, carrying me over to the couch and sitting down with me in his lap. I lean my head on his shoulder and cry as he strokes my hair. "They are going to try to get us out again, aren't they?" I eventually whisper.

"I'm afraid so." He whispers back.

"Then we have to stop it." I say. "We are not going to risk our lives again to get out of there their way. We will have to win."

"Katniss…" he groans, closing his eyes in frustration.

"No, don't say that the two of us can't win because we've done it before." I say, looking into his eyes.

"Okay, and nearly killed both of us." He reminds me. I open my mouth to protest but he cuts me off. "And don't say that it won't happen again because it is happening. It's happening right now as we speak." He said, looking into my eyes fiercely. Then there was a knock on the door. Peeta lifts me off of his lap gently and goes to answer the door. "What are you doing here?" I hear him ask.

I turn around on the sofa and see Gale standing in the doorway. "I need to talk to Katniss. Really, I do. It's important."

Peeta turns and looks at me, asking me with his eyes if he should let Gale in. After a couple seconds of careful deliberation I nod slightly and stand up. As Peeta walks by me to the steps he touches my shoulder and whispers, "I'll be in the studio, okay?"

I nod and smile faintly at him, patting his hand that rests on my shoulder and then keep walking to where Gale stands. I wait until I hear the door of the studio to click shut to say anything to him. "What do you want?" I ask, not attempting to hide the contempt in my voice.

"I just want to smooth things over with us. I thought you'd be happy to see me." He says, still standing outside.

"Oh yeah? Well I thought you knew that Peeta wasn't aware of how often we talked. Or that I've been calling you." I say venomously.

Gale sighs and tries again. "Look, I'm sorry that I let it slip. Okay, I did know that he didn't know we were talking all that much. But I had to come see you to tell what is going on." He says.

"I already know what's going on so you're a little late. Haymitch and Peeta just told me." I tell him, preparing to slam the door in his face but then remembering that I am an adult and adults don't slam doors in people's faces.

"What do you know?" he asks, seeming confused.

"That there was a rebellion, Paylor is dead and Onyx has taken her place and Peeta and I are in the Hunger Games yet again. Oh, and this time we actually are married and I actually am pregnant." I add.

Gale looks like I just slapped him. "You're pregnant?" he stammers.

"Yes, and now that we've gotten that out of the way you can leave." I say, starting to close the door when he puts his hand in the frame – knowing that it won't stop me but doing it anyway – and yelping my name.

"What rebellion?" he asks.

"That's not what you were going to tell me?" I ask, wanting nothing more than to bury myself under a rock.

"No, I was going to tell you that Johanna and I are going to get married." He says, then smiling widely.

I gasp and laugh at the same time, making a somewhat hysterical sound. "Wow, Gale, I'm so happy for you!" I say, rising up on my toes so I can give him a friendly hug. I pull away first of course and add, "I didn't even know you have feelings for her."

He blushes. "Yeah, it's somewhat new." He says. "Anyway, I just…I wanted to tell you before we leave tomorrow morning. I imagine you guys will be invited to the wedding."

I nod, my anger suddenly evaporated. "Well, have a safe trip. And yeah, I guess I'll see you at your wedding."

He smiles and hesitates. "Do you think Peeta would mind if I hugged you?"

I laugh. "No, I don't think Peeta would mind." I say as I step toward Gale and hug him tightly. He strokes my back and hair but eventually pulls away from me.

"I better go. I promised Johanna I wouldn't miss dinner."

"Go. And don't be a stranger, okay?"

He shakes his head. "Never." I shut the door and go into the study that Peeta had redecorated into a sort of art studio. He was sitting at an easel, tapping a piece of charcoal against his knee and looking at the pad of paper in front of him. I walked up to him, going unnoticed until I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my chin on his shoulder.

"I guess it went well?" he whispers, his mind still a million miles away.

I nod. "He and Johanna are getting married." I whisper to him, kissing his neck. I can feel his muscles tighten in response. "What?"

He shakes his head. "I always knew they would be a good match." He says, lifting one of my hands to his mouth.

"Maybe I should go and leave you to your work." I whisper, beginning to pull away but he stands up and shakes his head.

"Don't you think we should talk about something that I think both of us have been avoiding?" he asks, facing me and putting his charcoal away.

"Um," I stammer. "That reminds me, I need to go to the market and pick some things up." I say hurriedly, starting to walk out but he pulls me back to him.

"Katniss." He says calmly. "Please, we need to talk about the Games, and the baby." He tells me but I shake my head. "Katniss." He says, his voice more demanding this time. "Listen, we can not just ignore this is happening. We have to talk about it."

I sigh but give in anyway. "I'm scared." I shrug. Tears sting my eyes yet again and I turn away quickly, not wanting to cry in front of Peeta anymore. I feel his hands on my shoulders and I shudder, wiping away my tears. He turns me around so I face him and he gently wipes the tears away with his thumbs.

"I know. I am too." He whispers, pulling me toward him so I can rest my head on his chest. "Listen, Katniss. Promise to do something for me no matter what?"

"Of course." I say into his shirt.

He hesitates, and then says, "When we're in the arena, kill me first."

**That's it for this chapter. I kind of finished it really quickly, I know, but I'm really excited to go see my boyfriend in his first varsity football game tonight! Anyway, that bit of randomness is over and now you can review! Please.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	4. Chapter 4

**I just finished writing the last chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Don't forget to review though because I love constructive criticism. Just don't go overboard. You don't have to critique my story to review though. Haha. **

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

I freeze. Not because I'm surprised by the request but because I'm surprised he didn't want to stick around in the Games to protect me. He knew what I was thinking too because next he says, "The longer I'm around to protect you in the Games the harder it is for you to kill me."

I shake my head. "Well it won't be hard any way you die because I won't be the one to kill you."

"You'll seriously let someone give me a slow and painful death rather than a quick arrow in the head from you?" he asks.

I am still shaking my head as I step away from him. "I won't talk about this anymore."

"It's important we do." He says, following me out of the studio. I really want to avoid having a fight with him and trigger a flashback, but why can't he see that he is being an idiot?

"No, it's madness!" I suddenly yell, turning on him. "I am not going to kill you, we've gone through this a million times before and I haven't changed my decision." I stomp to the front door and pull on my boots, coat, and grab my bow and arrows.

"Where are you going?" he asks, sounding like he finally gave up but there is still some desperation in his voice.

"Hunting." I growl, slamming the front door behind me. Haymitch was standing at the bottom of our steps, cup of coffee in hand. He stands there for a while, not letting me pass.

Then he says, "You two need to sort this out, you know." He lets me pass him but as he reaches the front door I turn.

"I'm not going to kill him." I tell him.

He shrugs. "You're the only one that can make that decision. I can't help you." As he slips inside I hear him call out for Peeta. But I keep walking away. I cut through a back alley and end up behind the bakery. I climb the wooden steps that Peeta and I had built that lead up to the back door. It's dim inside except for the warm glow of the ovens. I look inside and see the loaves of bread he had obviously put in earlier rising. With a pair of oven mitts I take the ones that are done rising out and put them on the cooling racks, figuring that he'll be back later to do what he needs to do with them. I go to the front door and flip the open sign over to closed and turn the lights off in the front.

I retrieve a tub of icing from the refrigerator and a spoon. I sit on one of the stools next to the large table and listen to people outside bustling through the town square. I stay there for I don't know how long, but I eventually look down and see there's only half the tub of icing left and I'm starting to get kind of nauseous. Then something else catches my attention. It is silent in the bakery. Not a sound. There isn't any sound outside either. I put the icing down and pick up one of the knives sitting on the counter behind me. I creep into the front of the bakery where the store is and get down on my hands and knees so I can crawl up to the window. All of the lights are out in the square, no one is walking around or in sight. Just when I'm about to stand up to retrieve my bow and arrows from the back and go home, I see a flicker of light. I can't tell how close it is so I keep watching it. And then it flashes and gets bigger and I realize it's about ten feet from the window. I flatten myself on the floor just as a ball of fire flies through the window, sending glass all over me and igniting the entire front counter. I stand up and go straight to the cash register, getting all of the money out and then going to the safe. Another ball of fire comes through and engulfs the other side of the store.

The room is filled with smoke and I find it difficult to see and breathe. Once I have all of the money I sprint into the kitchen and grab the fire extinguisher. I run back into the store and try to spray the fire but it is too big. I go back into the kitchen and lock the door behind me. I grab my bow and arrows and run out of the bakery, knife still in hand. I burst out of the door, coughing and retching and jump off the loading platform and into the woods. I sprint through the trees back to Victor's Village, still coughing and struggling to breathe. Once I'm there I see that all the lights in our house are off but the glow from the TV illuminates the living room in a bluish glow. I throw myself through the back door and stand, hands on my knees, trying to tell Peeta and Haymitch what happened.

Peeta for the most part ignores me and keeps watching the TV. At least until I say bakery and fire in the same sentence. Then he stands up and runs out the door. Haymitch stands too and guides me to a chair, telling me to breathe deeply and rest. He gets me a mug of stew from the microwave and hands it to me. I just sit and look at it. He sighs and says, "Go after him if you think it will really be helpful."

I don't need to be told twice. I run back to the city square where all of the lights are back on and the firefighters are gathered around what used to be the front half of the bakery. Some parts were still smoking but it seemed that everything was under control. I made my way through the crowd and up to the front where I see Peeta standing next to the pile of rubble with his head bowed and hands on his hips. He hundreds of years old. One of the peacekeepers nearby lets me under the rope that was keeping people back and I approach my husband cautiously. Peacekeepers are starting to send people away and the firefighters are packing up things in their trucks. Peeta is unaware of my presence until I say, "Peeta, it's okay. We can fix this."

His head snaps up at the sound of my voice. "This is not okay." He whispers in an angry voice. "This is your fault."

"My fault? How is this my fault?" I ask.

He turns and faces me. His face is lined with worry and fury, making me retreat a couple steps. "Because everything is your fault!" he yells. People stop and turn and look at us, wanting to see the two love birds go at each other's throats. But they don't know that this is not bread-giving Peeta, this is hijacked Peeta.

Haymitch appears quite literally out of nowhere and grabs Peeta by the throat just as he takes a swing at me. Gale is behind me, pulling me toward Johanna as he rushes forward to help Haymitch carry Peeta into the darkness where they will be able to subdue him without me getting in the way. I let Johanna hold me by my upper arms as I watch my husband get dragged away but then I shrug off her hands and stomp down the street to my house. "Katniss, what happened?" she asks me, following me back to Victor's Village. I wait until we're in my house to tell her what happened.

When I do tell her she looks worried. "Do you think there's another rebellion going on?" she asks.

I shake my head. "I don't know. But if there is, why would they be targeting me?"

"Maybe the Capitol is rebelling." She whispers the words that I had been thinking and they don't sound any better once they are out in the open.

I shrug. "I don't know. It wouldn't make sense to kill me now when they all know that I'll die in the Games." I tell her.

"I don't know. Going through the games twice and then a war will kind of make people think you are invincible. I mean, it's not like you came out of it all unscathed but the fact that you aren't a drunk or morphling addict or insane definitely says something. I mean, look at Annie. She didn't do too well after the Games." Johanna reminds me.

"But she's fine now. Maybe a bit depressed about Finnick but she isn't as crazy as she apparently was. You would know better than me because you're older than me but she seems to have definitely shown improvement." I say.

There's a loud knock on my front door and I open it. Haymitch is standing there and as soon as the door is open wide enough he grabs me by the arm and pulls me out of my house. "You can't stay there anymore." He grumbles.

"What?" I yelp. "What do you mean I can't stay in my own home?" I struggle with his grip on me but just end up pulling both of us to the ground. He pins me down with his knee but I still struggle.

"Katniss!" he eventually shouts, making me go still. "Peeta doesn't want you there." Those five words made me give up the fight, not because I was surprised but because they _hurt_. Almost like a whip-lash and I know how that feels. Haymitch gets up and helps me up, leading me to his house. I'm still dazed when he sits me down in his kitchen and gets me some liquor.

I let it sit on the table in front of me. Haymitch pulls out a bottle of liquor and sits next to me. "The Games are in a couple weeks. In just a few days you and Peeta will officially be named tributes and you'll be on your way to the Capitol. You won't be here forever." I don't say anything in response. He sighs and claps me on the shoulder as he walks away and falls asleep on the couch.

I walk upstairs to the guest bedroom. This isn't the first time I've had to stay at Haymitch's for the night because Peeta is in bad shape. This room had a number of my possessions in it and really was just a second bedroom to me. For a while after our marriage I stayed at Haymitch's at least once a week. I eventually started keeping several spare sets of clothing, pajamas, and some of my most dear possessions like the pearl. It always made me feel better when Peeta couldn't.

The days passed in a blur of gray. Every morning I would leave the house before the sun rose and go out hunting, returning for lunch. I would eat whatever I caught in the morning and then I would go out into the woods to train alone. Peeta and I occasionally went out to a clearing we had found and did some target practice with spears and knives and such but we hadn't done that in a while. After training I would go back to Haymitch's, make dinner from something I caught and then we would sit and watch TV.

A few nights into my residency at Haymitch's we were watching TV and I ask, "Haymitch, how far along am I?" I am kind of hesitant to ask but I need to know before I go back into the arena.

"Uh," he sits and thinks. "Probably about a month. Dr. Aurelius said that they found out a couple weeks after, you know." He finishes awkwardly.

I nod, starting to get worried that I hadn't felt any symptoms but his words soothe me. Then the TV show we were watching cuts out and we see the new President Onyx. He is the spitting image of Snow and I wonder if he smells the same; blood and roses. "I am here tonight to announce the tributes for the seventy-seventh Hunger Games. The districts will be presented in random order. Each pair of tributes I chose for a reason and it is up to them to find out. So I will start with District Six: Marsha Darren and Clint Tucker. District Four: Coral Leighton and Emmett Leighton. District One: Ivy Janet and Weston Ryder. District Nine: Ebony Donita and Jack Stuart. District Thirteen: Scarlett Penny and Phoenix Alcott. District Three: Iris Monet and Griffin Barclay. District Eight: Clover Breena and Leo Elliott. District Ten: Maisie Loretta and Peter Wayne. District Five: Vera Sienna and Eli Collins. District Seven: Willow Lark and Topaz Landon. District Twelve: Katniss Mellark and Peeta Mellark." I take a deep breath, feeling Haymitch's gaze on me. I want nothing more than to have Peeta by my side to hold me hand or kiss me.

"And finally," Onyx continued, "District Two: Johanna Mason and Gale Hawthorne."

**That's it for this chapter. Please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	5. Chapter 5

**I really appreciated the review sw777! I'm thinking that this is some point in the future when medicine is a bit more advanced. Of course, I have a plan as to where this is going with the baby and the fight with Peeta. I think this chapter will clear some of that up. I guess I wasn't very good about explaining it. But thank you for the reviews and here is chapter five.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~ **

The next morning I'm getting on the train with Haymitch, our new coordinator Sonya Roberts and Peeta, on the way to the Capitol. Once I'm on the train I'm ushered to the dining room by Peacekeepers and am seated at a table with Haymitch and Sonya. Peeta sits next to me a couple minutes later. He seems so normal. Not the typical pale and thin Peeta that I see after one of his bad episodes. Now he is as healthy as I've seen him in months, lightly tanned skin, hair soft and silky, blue eyes clear. But I realize that he's probably been training to stay in shape for this.

"So that's it then?" Haymitch asks us. "You two won't talk to each other?" Neither of us responds so he accepts that as his answer. "Okay, we can play this angle. The two love birds are not talking to each other because they…they…" he pauses, thinking hard and taking a swig from his bottle. "I don't know but we'll figure it out, right?" he nudges Sonya.

She nods. "Of course. Maybe you two can simply be fighting about something?" she suggests but we still don't respond. Peeta is slightly shaking his head and I'm struggling to keep my hands still. When they were playing with just Peeta's feelings it was okay but now they are playing with both of us when we are genuinely mad at each other. This doesn't seem okay. "Or we can think about it some more." She whispers, returning her attention back to the table.

"I have an idea." Peeta says as if the solution is obvious. "Why don't we tell the truth? That Katniss ruined our livelihood, yeah? Sounds like an excellent idea to me." He raises his eyebrows in question to Haymitch and Sonya who simply sit there, speechless for once.

"We can say that." I agree quietly, not wanting to fight with Peeta. I look over at him and see that he is taken aback by my civil response.

"Great!" Haymitch exclaims, slamming his fist down on the table. "Now we need to discuss our strategy in the arena. Obviously you two can just keep fighting because, you know, that will make things more interesting than the lovebirds that the audience has been seeing." He chuckles weakly, looking around at us and stopping when he realizes that none of us are laughing. "Um, and also you are allowed to wear whatever you want as long as Plutarch approves it so we have your Mockingjay suit, Katniss, and Peeta, we found the suit that Cinna made for you. Let's just hope that Gale doesn't get his."

"Which brings us to our next discussion." Sonya jumps in. "You two are not allowed to form alliances. With anyone. We think that both of you will be better off going solo. You both have excellent survival skills and after we saw the layout of the arena we decided that they will be sufficient enough for you two to get through to the final few of you."

"Sounds great." I interrupt. "I'm not really hungry so I think I'll go lay down for a while." I stand up and walk out of the room to my sleeping quarters where I can still hear them talking.

"You both have seen the arena?" Peeta asks.

"Plutarch showed it to us and the other mentors. Which sadly, it's only Beetee and Annie left now to mentor. Johanna will act as mentor to Gale leading up to the Games so who knows what those two will be doing. But yes, we've seen the layout and know what it will be like and we are forbidden to tell you what it is." Haymitch explains.

Peeta sighs. "I hate this. How long does it have to go on?"

"However long you feel necessary." Sonya answers. "But remember, she will eventually smell a rat. She can't fall for the 'ruining your livelihood' story forever so just play it up. Find little things to criticize. And remember, there is always the interviews for you to surprise everyone with some big bombshell."

"Do you know what you're saying this year?" Haymitch asks.

"Yep. I think I will play up this fight as much as it can played. Well, without killing her." I can hear the faint smile in his voice. What the Hell are they talking about? My door was open so I saw Peeta walk past my room. He stopped after passing my door and backtracked, stopping to stand in my door. "We can't keep freezing each other out like this." He says.

"We can actually." I say, standing up and walking away. He knows better than to follow me. I walk down into the TV room where Haymitch and Sonya are reviewing the other tributes by watching special video profiles of them. "Where did you get these? When were they shot?" I ask, fearing that there were indeed cameras planted in my house.

"Don't worry, Katniss, Peacekeepers shot these videos. Only for certain tributes. Actually, we don't have one for you." Sonya says, digging through the box, looking through the files and tapes. "We don't have anything on you. That's weird, nothing for Peeta or Johanna either. I guess they think that everyone knows what you can do." She continues to dig and then says, "Hang on, there isn't anything for District Eleven either."

"They haven't chosen the tributes from Eleven yet. It's the biggest district so we'll find out when we get there."

I plop down on the couch next to Haymitch. "Do I have any advantages?" I ask him.

"Well, Onyx chose them himself so all of you have probably killed someone. Everyone knows that you have an exceptional shot. They will also be expecting you to wear your Mockingjay suit so I'd say that your only advantage is that you know what the arenas are like for the tributes." Haymitch says.

I sigh and shake my head. "I don't want to do this again." I hold up a finger to him. "I know, I know, I have no choice. But really, this will only start more drama and I really can't afford to let anyone else die." I admit.

He nods. "Well, let me just say that this time around you and Peeta won't be together and maybe it's best that you're not."

I peer at him from the corner of my eye. "You two have something planned, don't you?"

"I'm not allowed to say anything. You two are being trained separately and it is my duty to not tell you what his strategy will be." Haymitch says, but he's nodding.

"What?" I ask.

"I can't tell you if we're planning anything behind your back." He says, still nodding.

"Oh, of course. I totally understand." I say, noticing Peeta walking down the hall toward us. We get quiet as he asks what we were talking about and focus on the tapes. By the end of the study session, which takes about four hours, we have narrowed the list of twenty-two tributes down to a list of fourteen tributes that are seen as our biggest threats.

"Okay, let's review." Haymitch says at the end, taking the papers from Peeta and I so we have nothing to look off of. "District One Tributes." He says.

"Easy kill." Peeta says right away.

Haymitch nods. "District Seven."

"Good sword fighters. It would be best to kill them from a distance. Like with a bow and arrows." I answer.

"Yes." Haymitch nods. "District Thirteen."

"Both are well trained. Will be difficult to kill but will experience a culture shock in the arena so it would be best for nature to take its course on them." Peeta says.

"District Ten."

"She is a good follower. Watch your back." I say.

"District Nine."

"He is also good at archery. Still watch your back." I answer right away.

Haymitch is looking satisfied. "I think you both will do very well. Just look out for the siblings. They can be trouble. Instant allies but you may not know it. Especially Collin and Griffin. I guarantee they will by allies." He pauses. "And Coral and Emmett should be killed as soon as you get the chance."

We both nod. Neither of us ask about Gale and Johanna. Haymitch didn't formulate a plan for them because he probably doesn't know what to do with them. The train stops for a fuel stop so we all disperse. Peeta and Haymitch go outside for fresh air so I walk to my sleeping quarters. I change into a pair of sweat pants and a fresh shirt and climb under the covers of my bed.

I wake up later after a nightmare, slightly befuddled and see that it is dark in my room. I feel soothing hands stroking my hair and arms and someone shushing me. I wake up in the morning with the sun streaming through the window, alone, but with the covers smelling like Peeta.

**This chapter was mostly informational for some of the tributes. You'll learn more about them later. You can go on my profile and vote for who you think will win the Games as the book progressed. You can start voting now and I'll leave it up until the end of the Games. Thank you!...oh, and don't forget to review please!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry about the mix-up with the poll, I think I've fixed it now. But if it's not there just keep checking my profile you'll be able to vote eventually. Thank you very much for the reviews! Keep it up please! P.S. sometimes if you guys ask a question in your review that's important and I'm in the middle of writing a chapter I will review and answer your question. Just don't get crazy about it.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

Once we were in the Capitol we were ushered into the training center, much like when we were sixteen. Only we weren't kids anymore. We were here to win and to stay alive. Ultimately, we were here to kill. Peeta and I didn't look at each other as we rode the elevator to the twelfth floor of the training center. Because District Thirteen was a part of the Hunger Games we didn't have access to the roof anymore. "Um, what about the opening ceremonies?" I ask Sonya as we step off the elevator and into the too familiar hallway.

"They aren't until tomorrow. You guys are some of the first tributes to be here. About half the tributes arrive the night before." She says, not looking up from her clipboard. "Okay, you two go to your bedrooms and get some sleep. We will have a long day tomorrow." She smiles up at us grimly before she walks down the hall to her own bedroom.

"A big, big, big day!" Peeta says in a high-pitched voice. I laugh but Haymitch gives Peeta a look and something passes between them that I can't comprehend. "Right." He says, serious now. He clears his throat. "I'll see you guys in the morning." I watch his back as he walks away and disappears behind one of the doors in the hallway.

"We're not allowed to stay in the same room?" I ask Haymitch.

"It's up to you guys. You've done it before but I wouldn't recommend it. He's still kind of unstable." He says, but I can tell he's lying.

"Really?" I challenge, crossing my arms. "He seems pretty stable to me."

Haymitch sighs and shifts his feet. "How much do you know?" he asks.

"Only that you two are keeping secrets from me and might I add that I have sympathy for Peeta right now because he had to go through two years of this with us." I say. "What about me being your favorite? What happened?" I ask.

He hesitates, as if deciding whether or not he wants to say something. But he says it anyway. "Look, Katniss, let's face it. You are pregnant and therefore you won't be as physically fit as Peeta. So I'm double-crossing Peeta. He thinks we have a set plan to save you but really what I have is a set plan to save him. Because I know that he'll need all the help he can get."

"So what's the plan?"

"It takes a bit of selflessness." He warns but I roll my eyes. "And of course you're not worried about that. All you need to remember is that only one of you can make it out of the arena and it has to be Peeta. You'll know when the time comes for you to go."

I nod, gulping. "And what happens to Peeta after that?"

"He wins." He says, smiling at me and patting my shoulder. "Just keep an open mind, okay?" I nod again, letting him smooth my hair before I walk away and go to my bedroom. I change and climb into bed, curling up on my side and falling asleep.

I'm woken the next morning by Flavius, Octavia, and Venia standing around my bed. "Are you ready?" Venia asks somewhat solemnly.

I nod and climb out of bed, letting them usher me into the bathroom where they prep me for my new stylist. I had been courteous enough to shave my legs regularly since I got married and keep up with my eyebrows but it wasn't because I knew I would need to go through another opening ceremony as a tribute. I didn't even expect there to be another Hunger Games. They didn't talk as much as they did my base coat of make-up and did my hair but they still talked a lot. By the time our lunch break came around Haymitch was welcome company to me.

I sat between Sonya and Octavia at lunch. Peeta was there, looking more rested than me. It was unusual though because after his flashback episodes he typically doesn't get much sleep for a few weeks. I'm immediately suspicious. I mean, his overall well being is never a disappointment to me but he looks like normal ol' Peeta which isn't what he looks like after an episode. There is an awkward silence as we eat our food. Finally I think of something to ask.

"So why has it been so quiet since President Paylor got killed?" I ask Haymitch.

He swallows a large ball of cheese before saying, "It just took everyone so off guard. Everyone knows that if we just attack the Capitol now it will be a blood bath with most of our people killed at the end. And, of course, I think that people are under the impression that when you win the Games you will kill Onyx yourself."

"Great, so now I am supposed to win and assassinate someone? No pressure or anything." I say sarcastically.

Haymitch shrugs. "You wanted to know."

We eat in silence after that and then I am handed over to my stylist, Ruby. He sits on the edge of the large bathtub in my bathroom calmly. He has lightly tanned skin with brown dreadlocks. His eyes are a bright green but he looks completely natural compared to other people from the Capitol. "Katniss Everdeen." He sighs, standing up and spreading his hands. His voice is very deep. "I know that isn't your last name but you are just such a hero in my district. It is what I know you as. But if it bothers you I can call you Katniss Mellark." He says, ushering me into the chair that I sat in.

"Whatever works for you." I say, smiling at him. He seems very stoic but he could just be in shock. And did he say 'my district?' "So, what are we doing?" I ask him.

"Well," he says, "Portia and I have both decided that you two have pretty much worn out the _Girl on Fire_ and your district doesn't produce coal anymore so we are going to try a new approach: doctors." He looks really excited but all I can imagine is the scrubs that I have been seeing my mom in whenever she is on TV for an interview. "Don't worry, we modified the uniforms a bit. They are much more attractive now. Maybe even sexy." The look of terror must by plain on my face when he says that because he laughs dryly and adds, "I know you don't do sexy. But you will look fabulous. Cinna was nice enough to leave all of your measurements for me and all of your little insecurities that you don't even want Peeta to know in this file here." He waves an orange folder in the air and puts it back on the counter.

"What else did he say?" I ask quickly.

"Just that you hate the word sexy or sensuous. Oh, and you also hate tears." He smiles faintly at me. I nod, not knowing what else to say.

When Ruby reveals my costume though, I see what he means about modifications. My dress is a white button down number with a sash that ties around the waist. It has sleeves that go just past my elbows that will hide the worst of my burn scars that have still faded a bit over the years. It has a hint of sparkle threaded into it and a red patch that has a white first-aid cross on it but a blue mockingjay is on top of it. "It's stunning. Well, as stunning as a doctor's uniform could be." I tell him, smiling. Though he isn't like Cinna I could still see us bonding. If only I wasn't about to die.

"We heard about your condition from Sonya but we didn't know how much you would be showing so we made a few adjustments to the waistline so it could accommodate any body figure." He tells me. "But obviously we worried for nothing."

"Yeah, it's only been a few weeks." I say weakly.

"Right, well let's get you in the dress and head out to meet the others, okay?" I nod and undress, feeling slightly awkward because I haven't undressed for anyone but Peeta in a few years. He slides the dress over my head and ties the belt tight around my waist. He takes an instrument that I didn't recognize and slings it around my neck. "It's called a stethoscope. Doctors used it everywhere before Panem came into existence."

"Oh. Will other people know what it is?" I ask nervously, adjusting the sleeves.

"Probably not but it will no doubt be the new trend here in the Capitol for the next few months." He laughs. "And we put the mockingjay on your dress so you wouldn't have to wear your pin." He looks around. "Where is it?"

"Um," I stammer, "I think Haymitch has it." I say.

"Oh whatever. We can handle it later. Now stand for me and put these on." He says, handing me a pair of strappy red polka-dot heels. I have grown accustomed to heels over the years too because I've had to wear them on numerous occasions. I slip them on and spin for him. "Yes, you're perfect." He sighs, nodding.

We share a smile and then he walks me out to the elevator where Haymitch is waiting. "Come on, Peeta and Sonya are already down there." He steps onto the elevator and the three of us ride down in silence. When the doors open up I see a room swarming with people. The chariots are all lined up so we weave our way through and eventually make it to the twelfth one.

Peeta is wearing black pants, a jade green v-neck t-shirt and a white button down shirt over that. He has the same patch as I do sewn onto the shirt. "Hey." I say, not knowing what else to say.

"Hey." He returns. "So are we holding hands, looking tough…what are we doing for this?" he asks.

"Um, we can look tough I guess." I say awkwardly.

Then Haymitch butts in. "You two are going to ignore each other. Don't acknowledge the fact that there is a person next to you." He orders and then walks away to talk to Beetee, who is standing with the tributes he is supposed to be mentoring but Haymitch said it's obvious that he's rooting for Peeta and me.

"What's with him?" I ask.

Peeta shrugs. I hear a squeal and feel someone poke my shoulder. I turn and see the tributes from District Thirteen, Scarlett Penny and Phoenix Alcott, standing there. She's smiling hugely but I know it's all fake. "This is so weird!" she breathes, leaning down to give me a hug. She is very tall. "I can't believe I actually know someone that will be in the arena with me! We must be allies." She says but Phoenix's expression on his face says that he wants nothing to do with us.

He is staring Peeta down, obviously remembering the Peeta that had to be tied down and sedated as opposed to the Peeta that is standing next to me. "So," I say loudly, trying to ease the mounting tension. "We'll have to catch up over lunch during training, okay?" I say, smiling and nodding to the three of them, even though I don't know Phoenix or Scarlett. It doesn't matter though because then it'll be that much easier to kill them.

Scarlett agrees rather too enthusiastically and bounces away, pulling Phoenix with her. They are dressed in flamboyant yellow ensembles. It makes sense since District Thirteen became the leaders in making lights and such in Panem. I turn away from their backs and face Peeta, only to see him in conversation with four people or so. The two guys looked so much alike they could be brothers. They both had black hair and tan skin with dark eyes. They were similar heights and stood in identical positions. The two girls were opposites though. The one girl resembled Rue with dark hair and eyes and I realized she must be the tribute from District Eleven. She is thin and short but looks tough. The other girl has pale, almost white, skin with light blonde hair and gray eyes. She stood slightly behind on of the boys timidly.

Peeta seemed to be getting along with them so I wandered off to where I saw Johanna standing. She was wearing a replica of a Peacekeeper outfit. "Hey!" she exclaims, interrupting whoever was talking to her. She threw her arm around my shoulder. "Are we gonna be allies again this year?" she asks.

"Why is everyone picking out allies so soon?" I ask, smiling to the redhead girl standing a few feet away from us.

"Because no one wants to wait until tomorrow, brainless!" she says. "Now, Katniss, this is Marsha Darren. She's from District Six." She adds, pointing to the redhead.

"Nice to meet you." I say politely, forcing a smile and shaking her hand. It's like holding a dead fish, meaning she doesn't have a lot of strength in her arms. That is not much to go on because she could just be acting but she also has no scars or calluses on her hand, meaning she isn't a fighter. "Well, I guess if we're all supposed to be allying with each other I'll go see who my husband has found." I walk away from them and back to Peeta, where he's saying bye to the quartet that he had been talking to. "Okay, who's who?" I ask him.

"The two guys are brothers. The taller one is Collin, the shorter one is Griffin. They are going to be tough competition but I think I've set an alliance with them. The blonde is Iris Monet, she won't be any competition at all. She'll probably be killed the first day. The dark haired girl though, she's from District Eleven with Collin. Her name is Regan and she'll be a tough cookie too. Iris and Griffin are from District Three." He explains.

"I think I'm going to fly solo this time around." I say but the sound of someone yelling to tell us to in our chariots drowns it out.

Peeta jumps in and I follow. "What were you saying?" he asks but then Haymitch pushes us apart and points a finger at us.

"No more talking!" he says sternly and then walks away. Our design team is nowhere in sight and Sonya and Haymitch have been swallowed by the crowd. Peeta reluctantly turns away from me and I turn away from him. As we are presented to the crowd we don't need burning costumes to draw attention to us. The simple fact that we are going into the arena once again basically paints a giant arrow above our heads. The crowd is screaming for us though, shouting our names and singing the Capitol anthem.

Over the loud cheers though, I hear one thing. I loud, high-pitched scream. A scream I knew was not made in encouragement, but in fear. It came from behind me so I turned to Peeta as he turned toward me. Then I heard the gunshot.

Then Peeta fell, pulling me to the floor of our chariot.

********PLEASE READ!********

**So this is really important. Well, not important but I want to tell you guys a story of this amazing kid I used to know. His name was Conner and he was five years old. A lot of people knew him as Conner with the smile. He was always smiling and happy and had an amazing imagination. When he was three he was diagnosed with leukemia. The Penn State Powerlifting team sponsored him through THON, the big dance marathon that Penn State holds every year to raise money for finding the cure for childhood cancer. But just a couple weeks after he had the time of his life at THON his parents found out that he had relapsed. Over the next six months or so he would go in and out of remission and fight the fight of his life. Finally, on Sunday, September 4, 2011, Conner passed away. Please keep his parents and little brother Matthew in your thoughts and prayers. He loved dinosaurs and horses and running around so we all know that he is having a good time in Heaven being the kid that he was never quite able to be. Rawr forever, Connersaurus. 3**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Please review and vote though! The more reviews you give me, the fast I update. Seriously.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

"Ah!" I exclaim as I land on top of Peeta and something hits the side of the chariot, sending a shower of splinters on to us. I pull away from him and look in his eyes. "Are you okay?" I ask him, slightly breathless.

"Yeah, you?" he asks. I nod but we stay on the floor of our chariot until we're back in the training center. Sonya and Haymitch are there instantly, pulling us out and onto the first available elevator. We wait until we're back on the twelfth level to say anything.

"What happened?" Sonya exclaims. I clutch on to Peeta's shirt as he strokes my back. Eventually he put his arms around me.

Then he says, "I just saw a guy raising a gun toward us so I pulled both of us down. I don't know who it was. Probably the same people that burnt down the bakery." He adds. It's the first time he has said anything about the bakery accident and I'm taken aback by the lack of emotion he says it with.

"It would make sense. Okay, both of you are sleeping in the same room tonight. Regardless of what I told you." Haymitch says to Peeta as I keep my face buried in his shirt. He keeps his arms securely around me waist as he walks me to my room and shuts the door behind us, locking it tightly.

He walks me to the bed and then goes to the TV and flips on the news. It's showing Peeta and I continuously falling to the floor of the chariot and the video of the shooter raising his gun and pulling the trigger. We sit and watch the clips over and over again, not saying anything. Finally he says, "Do you recognize him?"

"No. I didn't see who burnt down the bakery." I tell him. He nods and gets quiet again. "So," he says after a while. "I guess you know by now that I have been acting."

His statement catches me off guard but I don't let it show. "Yeah. You don't exactly know how you look after one of your flashbacks." I tell him.

"I was just doing what Haymitch told me to do." He whispers.

I nod. "I know. And how long have you been doing that?" I ask.

"Since we found out about the Games being reinstated." He answers honestly. That's almost a week then that he's been lying to me. Letting me believe that he's mad at me.

"Well, I need to get some sleep." I say, going into the bathroom to change and brush my teeth. When I come back Peeta is already asleep on the far edge of the bed, still in his costume. I sigh and climb in on the other edge, tugging the covers around me and turning the light off.

"You know, you could try a little harder to make it seem like you're heartbroken over me being mad at me." He whispers.

I look over my shoulder and see that his eyes are still closed but his face isn't totally relaxed. I can see the tension in the muscles at his neck. "Yeah, well, I'm not really trying to seem like I am anything." I say, turning away from him when I see his eyes flash open.

"I'm putting on the best show of my life, Katniss." He says, a hint of anger detectable in his voice.

"I've already had my turn at that Peeta. For two years, actually." I remind him and he falls silent again. We both fall asleep without saying another word.

When I wake up I feel Peeta's arms wrapped tightly around me. I shift, trying to relieve the strangle hold he has me in but he is too strong. So I lay there for a while, enjoying the sensation of him holding me because I know that as soon as he is awake he will leave and go to his own bedroom. But he takes me by surprise by staying in my room and getting ready for training there. We go to breakfast together and eat in silence.

Then we have to go to training. Peeta and I knew that we didn't want to train together so I walked over to the knot station while he went over to the wrestling station. The knot trainer recognized me instantly and instead of teaching me anything we talked for a while because I was the only one that was going to his station. After an hour or so of listening him talk about his family I catch the eye of Plutarch, who is sitting in the stands watching me closely. I smile at the trainer and thank him for his time and walk away to the knife throwing station. Peeta is still at the wrestling station with Collin, Griffin, Regan and Iris. Iris still looks petrified and from what I can tell has not actually wrestled anyone yet.

Johanna appears at my side. "What's with you two?" she asks and I don't need to ask who she's talking about.

I look around and see Gale at the archery station with the tributes from District Nine; a beautiful brunette girl and a very surly guy. I remember from the videos that the girl is an easy kill but the guy was going to present problems. Then I look over to see Peeta instructing the guys how to best lift a big rock. "I think it's our strategy." I tell her.

"You think? You don't know what your strategy is this time around?" she asks.

No one is around us so I say, "He and Haymitch are planning it but at the same time Haymitch has a plan for me. Peeta and I just can't be around each other." Then I look over at her. "Do me a favor?" I ask.

She shrugs. "I'm not dying for him, you know. I need to make sure Gale doesn't do anything stupid." She says, then recognition appears in her eyes. "That's what you want me to do with Peeta." She nods to herself. "I'll do it. I kind of owe him actually. He took a lot of torture here for me." She tells me and smiles sadly. "Real or not real?" she asks when he looks over at me angrily.

"Real. Definitely real." I say, turning away so I don't need to see anymore. The rest of the training days blur by. Johanna never leaves my side and if I wasn't so confused about Peeta I would have told her to go away.

But the day of our private sessions does come and once again Peeta and I are left alone in a room that is too small for my liking. We sit about ten feet away, not looking at each other. This year there is Scarlett and Phoenix in the room with us, watching us like hawks, waiting to see if we will fight. Peeta is called out of the room and I start counting the minutes until my session starts. A half hour goes by before it's my turn and I really, desperately want to know what he did this time.

Once I'm in the gym I realize I haven't thought about my own act and what I wanted to do. So I walk over to the knife throwing station and throw some knives around. The Gamemakers are watching me closely, probably expecting me to do something amazing because I am the Mockingjay. But seriously, what do they want me to do? Fly? All of my knives hit the bulls eye of the targets so I walk over to the camouflage station.

The last two times I was in here I did something stupid and got top marks for it. Well I'm gonna do it again. So I take a whole bunch of spears and set them on the floor. Then I take a dummy and drag it to the middle of the room. I use the spears to hold it up. Then I paint an ex on the heart of the dummy and a name on the forehead. Then I shot a flaming arrow through the heart and bowed to the Gamemakers before walking out.

Peeta, Sonya and Haymitch are all in the TV room when I get back to Level 12. They had their eyes glued on the TV that was playing the training sessions live. "Is it playing to the whole country?" I ask, making them notice that I've arrived. Peeta looks at me with white fury in his eyes and walks out.

"Lucky for you we're the only ones able to watch it." Haymitch says, pointing to where they were replaying me shooting the flaming arrow straight into a dummy with Peeta's name on it. "I can't believe you did that." He grumbles. Sonya sits silent with a hand pressed against her mouth.

"I was just playing along." I defend. But the truth is I can't believe I did that either. What was I trying to prove by shooting an arrow through a dummy with my husband's name on it? Was I trying to prove just how insane I am? Or did I want to symbolize what the Capitol did to him? That's it. That's what I can say. "And it's what the Capitol did to him when they were torturing him."

"But do they know that? I think not!" Haymitch yells. Peeta has come back in the room and is standing silently in the background. "You are sure making it hard for Plutarch to save you." Haymitch adds.

"You guys are not going to break us out of the arena again!" I yell back. "Don't you remember what happened last time? We are going to finish the Games because we are victors and that is what victors do!"

"Those are big words coming from a girl that hasn't acted like a victor for the past six years!" Haymitch yells back at me.

I laugh. "And you have acted like a victor? It's your job to mentor the tributes from our district so we can win but you are too busy keeping your head stuck in a bottle than to even care!" I scream, advancing toward him but Peeta steps between us and grabs my arms.

"Katniss, calm down!" he's saying, holding my arms tightly and trying to push me away from Haymitch.

Haymitch is cursing at me as Sonya is trying to calm him down. We don't even notice Plutarch Heavensbee entering the room until he slams a bottle down on Haymitch's head. We all look at him with disbelief on our faces. "What are you doing here?" Peeta asks, keeping one arm wrapped around my chest to hold me back.

"I could hear you guys yelling from the hallway for Pete's sake. What happened?" he asks. "Why are you all fighting?"

"Because Haymitch is a good-for-nothing, worthless son of a bit—" Peeta claps a hand over my mouth before I can say anything I regret. I struggle to free myself from Peeta's grip but he is too strong.

Plutarch shakes his head. "Don't make me regret those twelves that we gave you two." He tells us. This makes me shut up. "Now, I suggest you guys get your acts together before the Games. I will not save a bunch of children." Then he walks out, his shoes crunching on the broken glass.

"I'm fine." I growl at Peeta. He releases me and I plop onto the couch, burying my face in my hands. "He's right. We are taking this too lightly." I say.

Peeta sits down next to me. "I'm sorry for making you think that I'm mad at you. I'm not, it's just that this is what Haymitch is saying will be best."

"Forget Haymitch. I am going solo this time. And don't try to change my mind about it. I do better when I'm alone. But you…you have to ally with Johanna, Gale, Collin, Griffin, Regan…any of those guys." I tell him, holding his hands in mine.

Sonya speaks up. "Katniss is right, Peeta. You two have to be apart from each other." She says in a kind tone, starting to pick up the broken pieces of glass.

Peeta is sitting next to me, tears in his eyes. He looks at me with a sorrowful gaze. "Please Peeta." I plead, lifting my hand to stroke his cheek. "I'll be okay. I promise."

Slowly, he nods. He kisses me fiercely. When he pulls away he says, "I know." Then he pauses. "We have the whole tomorrow to ourselves. Can we just spend it together?" he asks.

"Of course." I whisper, hugging him tightly as tears well in my own eyes. I can feel him shaking as he strokes my hair. He smiles and wipes my tears when we pull away.

He stands up and goes to where Sonya is cleaning the floor. "I can do that Sonya. You take a break. You've done more than enough for us." She follows his instruction and sits down next to me. We watch all of the scores get presented. The Careers of course pull eights and tens. Collin, Regan, Griffin, and the boy tribute from Nine, Jack, pull tens. Johanna, Gale and the Leighton siblings pull nines. The rest of the tributes that we said would be tough pulled eights. Then Peeta and I pull twelves. Peeta has been socializing and making friends. To the other tributes, Peeta will be an ally. I will be a target.

**That's it for now. I love Saturdays. Review and vote please!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	8. Chapter 8

**I have to say, I'm writing this and during halftime for the Penn State – Alabama game right now and I'm about to put on a different game. It's pretty painful to watch PSU lose like this. I may even put on the Tennessee game. They're winning by a lot.**

**And a quick shout-out to Zoegurl who gave me an awesome review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

I don't think I need to explain how Peeta and I spent our last day alone and together. But I realized that it had been a while since we spent any real amount of time together, just having fun and enjoying each other's company. When the next day dawns nice and bright and our stylists pulls us away from each other it is time to put our best game faces on.

Flavius, Octavia and Venia barely held it together as they prepped my face and hair for whatever Ruby had planned for me. They curl my hair and wrap it into an elegant side ponytail that spills over the front of my shoulder, hiding some of my scars. They put a big red rose in the top of the ponytail. Then it's Ruby's turn on me. He unveils a white dress that fades into red rose buds at the bottom and has a black sash at the waist with a big red rose on the right side of it that matches the rose in my hair. He has long black gloves that hide some of my worst scars on my arms. The dress brings back memories of my wedding dress: one of the one's that Cinna had designed for me.

"A designer here in the Capitol made it specially for you." Ruby tells me. I smile and slide the gloves on. I meet Peeta by the elevator where he's wearing black pants, red shirt and a black tie. I could tell that he wanted to say something nice to me but we had to act like we were pissed at each other; our designers didn't know that we were really still in love.

The interviews pass in a blur as usual. Unfortunately Peeta can't drop a bomb on the audience this year because there are two tributes that have to go after us. I walk up to the front of the stage where Caesar Flickerman waits for me. "Well Katniss, you look absolutely stunning." He says, hugging me.

"Why thank you." I say casually, feeling slightly lost without Cinna being in the audience to help me. Hopefully Ruby didn't make any modifications to this dress like Cinna did to the wedding dress.

"Tell me, this is your third time as a tribute and to be in the Hunger Games. All of this must be coming as second nature to you, right?" he asks.

I shrug. "There's really nothing second nature about having to kill people that you have just met and allied with. Especially this year when I have friends going into the arena with me." I add.

"Of course. How did you and Peeta take it when you found out you were going in again?" he asks.

I hesitate, unsure of how to answer. I feel Haymitch's gaze boring holes into my body so I say, "Um, he and I actually weren't together when we found out. I was spending the night at Haymitch's." I say. Haymitch nods in approval.

"And why is that?" Caesar asks.

"Peeta had an early morning at the bakery because there was a wedding the next day so he was staying there for the night." I lie easily, noticing Haymitch's smile in my peripheral vision.

The buzzer rings and I walk back to my seat, not acknowledging Peeta as he walks past me. Peeta was always so much better at the interview crap than me so he and Caesar had fun joking around until Caesar asked Peeta, "So Peeta, on a more serious note, are the rumors about you and Katniss expecting another baby true?"

The question takes Peeta off guard but he does well hiding it. "I did not know that such rumors existed but yes, they are."

"Are you two worried? Last time she was in the Games she was pregnant but she had a miscarriage. Obviously the stress and physical exertion was just too much on her body." He says.

"Of course we're worried. Something like a miscarriage is pretty tragic and I think any parent can agree that the idea of it happening a second time is terrifying." Peeta says. "But she's been doing pretty well from what I can tell."

Caesar is taken aback by Peeta's words. "Do you mean that you haven't been spending much time with Katniss?" he asks.

Peeta shakes his head. "She and I haven't been seeing eye-to-eye lately. So she's been living with Haymitch for the past few weeks."

"So then the other rumors about you two getting divorced are also true?" Caesar asks.

"A few weeks ago we were seriously considering it, but with the baby and now the Games, we probably will never get to it." Peeta admits. Then the buzzer rings and he takes a seat next to me again. The audience is dead silent. A Gamemaker coughed as Caesar slowly called up Phoenix for his interview.

I want nothing more than to spend the last night with Peeta but I know we can't. The morning of the Games dawns cold and dreary though. I soon find myself down underneath the arena with Ruby though. He hands me my clothes and says, "Your lucky that you get to wear this suit. It holds up well in any climate. I did make some alterations though to make the sleeves cover your whole arm. And I have some leather gloves. I reinforced the boots and the plating on the one side where it was damaged when you got shot. Oh, and I have a hat for you to keep your head warm."

"Should I be expecting some cold weather?" I ask.

"No, I'm just giving you every option." He says, braiding my hair quickly and then sliding the wool hat over my head, covering my ears. I nod and take a deep breath. Ruby looks at me with a solemn gaze.

"I'll be okay." I assure him. Then he hands me something else. "I didn't know I'm even allowed to have these with me." I gasp.

"Another new rule." He says.

I stroke my bow and feel it hum to life. I slide the sheath of arrows over my shoulders and take another deep breath. I step onto the silver platform and look at Ruby. "When Peeta comes back, can you tell him how much I love him?" I ask him.

He nods, tears starting to slide down his cheeks. "Of course." I feel tears gather in my eyes as I'm raised from the cellar and up above ground. A blast of cold air hits me and I'm shocked by a dazzling gray and white landscape. We're gathered on the top of a mountain. All around us are mountains, as far as the eye can see. Snow is coming down in light flakes and I locate the cornucopia at the very top of the mountain, about a fifty foot climb into the clouds.

Peeta is three people two my right. When the gong sounds I don't hesitate. I jump off my platform and take off down the mountain. The rocky landscape is a bit hard to navigate but I manage it easily. I know that if there is any water in this arena, it is at the bottom of the mountains, deep in the valleys and canyons. But my outlook is grim. The temperature doesn't rise on bit as I descend like I hoped it would. That means that any animals would be the large, arctic animals I had always seen in textbooks at school and never had any desire to fight. It also meant that water would be frozen and so far I had not seen any sign of trees so starting a fire would be an extremely difficult task.

As the wind whistled through my ears I just barely caught Plutarch's voice saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the seventy-seventh Hunger Games!" But in my mind, I was being welcomed to the beginning of the end.

**I know that was a short chapter and that I'm updating twice in one day but I just wanted to get it out. The game hasn't improved any, unfortunately. Review and vote please. DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	9. Chapter 9

**Never forget. 9-11-01.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

After three hours of walking in the frozen tundra I still haven't found any sign of water. There is really only so far down I can go and I can't help but remember that I will eventually end up having to go back up. I stop for a second and look up at the top of the mountain. I can't see any part of the top because it is now shrouded in clouds. Thunder rumbles in the distance. I keep walking to where I see a dense forest of evergreens.

The shadows of the trees make me feel a little safer and not at risk. After all, it's easier to shoot something that's down a hill than up a hill. The rocky ground has turned into hard dirt and patches of grass. There are still rocks scattered between the trees but they were starting to get sparse. I kept an eye on the darker parts of the forest as I walked, starting to realize just how thirsty I am. I come across a line of smooth rocks, nearly stumbling on them at first. Then I realize they are river rocks. I follow the line of them through the woods and come across a large sheet of ice, tucked away in the middle of the dense trees. I wonder if this is the only water source in the whole arena. It isn't really big, only about twenty feet long and thirty wide. But it is large enough for about twenty-six people to get water from it.

I take the canteen that was hooked onto my belt and a knife that was tucked into my sheath of arrows. I slam the knife down in the ice and chop a circle in it. A sharp snap from about twenty feet in front of me catches my attention. I look up and see a goat stomping on the ice to break it. I silently slide an arrow into my bow and pull back on the string. This is the first animal I've seen all day, of course I'm going to shoot it. I'm just about to release the string when a spear is thrown directly into the side of the goat. I don't take the time to put my knife and arrow back, I fill my canteen and run back into the trees. I hear footfalls behind me so I take a winding route through the trees, jumping over rocks and diving under fallen trees. I find a hollowed out tree and tuck myself inside, bowing my head to hide my light face as much as possible and praying that someone wouldn't see my breath.

I hear the footsteps walk around the tree and then I see Marsha Darren. I thought she would be long dead at this point in the Games. I thought she'd be one of the first ones dead at the cornucopia. I watch her disappear into the shadows and wait several minutes before I step out of the tree. The area of the woods I am in is clear but in my desperate flee I didn't bother to make note of where I am going. There is no light in the distance meaning there is no break in the trees for at least a hundred yard radius. So I just walk. I know that the cameras are probably glued on me and Peeta.

Suddenly I'm nearly sick with worry. I didn't bother to look back at the cornucopia to figure out what he was doing. Is he even alive? I wonder. But I can't let my concern show. If Peeta and I were going to get divorced, would I still be worried about him? I had no experience in this. What is Peeta doing about it? Is he letting his worry show? He's the one that came up with the lie, he should at least know what to do with it. Unfortunately, because of the nature of what the lie is, I wasn't able to ask him what to do. I can only hope that I'm a better actor this time than I was in the past and that Peeta stays alive so I can carry out Haymitch's plan.

As it gets darker I find a good tree to climb and settle in for the night. I only have a bit of rope to tie myself to the branch but I make do. My suit has done really well with keeping me warm but I get concerned about my face. I tug on my hat and find that it can cover my face except for my eyes and a tiny hole at my mouth so I can breathe. My sleep is interrupted by howls in the distance, confirming one of my fears about the wildlife. I see the Capitol seal in the sky and count the faces that appear. Both tributes from One, Iris from Three, the male tribute from Five, the guy from Eight, the girl from Nine, and the guy from Ten. So only seven died. All of the ones we thought would get killed except for one. The girl I saw earlier. Where is she now? She's probably freezing to death now, or starving. Unless she has sponsors.

I start brainstorming how I can pick seventeen other people off when I hear someone walking through the woods again. I lean over my branch a bit and see her. She's looking around her like she lost something. At least she's been smart to keep moving to stay warm. Unless she really did lose something. In which case, I should just kill her now. But from where I am now my shot wouldn't kill her, just make her wish she was dead. So I shimmy down the tree, preparing to shoot when I hear her scream.

I jump out from behind the tree just in time to see Johanna drive a knife through her chest and bring it out. We hear the cannon and I hide behind my tree again as the hovercraft picks the girl up. Johanna walks around the tree to stand in front of me. "Figured you didn't like having a tail." She says.

"Doesn't matter if you're going to kill me." I say.

She laughs. "I'm not going to kill you. I'll let someone that doesn't actually care about you do it for me. Anyway, I needed to find you to give you the scoop."

I shrug and cross my arms. "Okay. What's going on?"

"Well, I'm allies with Gale and we both allied with Collin, Griffin and Peeta. The Regan girl ran off to Lord knows where. We're all alive and healthy. Gale is holding up pretty well. Unfortunately, he's gotten kind of blood thirsty. And we know what happens to those tributes." She says sadly. "But I'll try my best to get him to the end. That's the best we can hope for, right?" she laughs. "That guy, Jack, from Nine…he's someone to watch out for. He killed a couple of the people single handedly at the cornucopia." She tells me. "Now, we are all planning on coming down here in the woods to get some food and set up base camp. I'd say your best bet is to get the Hell out of here because outside of these woods are all sorts of game for you to hunt and everyone is expecting you to be sitting up in a tree somewhere. Especially with the way you took off in this direction earlier." She pauses. "How are you holding up? You didn't get a thing from the cornucopia, did you?"

I shake my head. "Negative. But there is a pond somewhere to the East. I lost it running from that girl." I pause. "Well, I'm not sure if it really was her. It could have been anyone. I just happened to see her at the time."

"Well you got lucky. That girl was pretty fast." Then she continues. "The brother and sister are holed up in a cave somewhere. We're going to try to ally with them and then kill them in their sleep. They don't seem to be the brightest but that girl Coral delivered a pretty good cut to the guy tribute from Six, Clint I think. He probably won't be around much longer. Also, that Vera and Maisie girl are allies from what we can tell. They are pretty hard to catch. Scarlett and Phoenix haven't been seen since the gong went but Griffin said he saw them go separate directions. I think that's it." She finishes.

"When are you planning on killing the brothers?" I ask.

"When they've done all that they are useful for. Probably after they kill a few people." She says honestly. "They're not really useful for anything besides killing people. They seem to have no conscience."

I hesitate. "And Peeta?" I ask.

"Better than ever. Really." She says. "Why are you asking?"

"Because I don't want to worry about having to kill him myself but obviously I do." I tell her. "I mean, really, when our kid is grown up and asking where Peeta is I don't want to have to tell it that I killed him."

"True. I should probably go back." She sighs. "Edge of the woods is about a mile to your South West. Be out of here by dawn." She warns darkly and then disappears into the darkness.

Since dawn can't be too far away I gather my things and start walking in the direction she went. It's still pretty dark when I emerge from the thick trees but I can still see pretty well. The only problem is that there is really no where to hide. It would have been nice to know where Johanna and her allies were so I would know where not to be but that would present to risk of the Gamemakers taking you out. I hear a cannon go off and see a hovercraft appear on the side of the mountain. But people actually get out and disappear inside a cave. They pull out the guy from Six, Clint, and take him away. Fifteen people left. And I haven't done anything. I could actually make it to the final two, as long as Peeta doesn't die first. In which case there better be some poisonous berries around.

**That's it for this chapter. I know it wasn't really fast paced but it'll pick up. I promise. For now you guys can just review and please, please, PLEASE VOTE! I don't care if you review (I really do actually), just vote! Please! Like, right now, as in stop reading and go to my profile and vote! And remember, just because someone is dead doesn't mean they can't win. The odds are ever in your favor.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~ **


	10. Chapter 10

When the hovercraft disappears I take off in the direction of the cave. I only stop short when I realize that he may not have been alone. I pull an arrow out of the sheath and put it in my bow, ready to shoot if I need to. The cave only stretches about thirty feet back into the mountain and is pretty dark in the back, perfect if you need to make a fire with the way it bends so it would conceal the light.

I've just started the fire when a horrifying thought dawns on me. I only have a few seconds though to process it before that thought becomes a reality. The cave rumbles and shakes and small rocks start to fall. My smart self decided to tie down my supplies as soon as I determined the cave as vacant. In fact, I used double knots. My hands are shaking as I try to untie the rope but I just make the knot worse. Something falls and hits my in the side of my head and I look up just in time to see a huge boulder starting to shake free. I dive out of the way before it hits right where my left shoulder was. Luckily, the force of my dive rips the rope and springs my supplies free. I gather them in my arms and sprint to the exit, but it's too late: large boulders have blocked the way. They are too big for me to lift and all I can think is that if Peeta were with me he'd be able to get us out. But I'm alone.

The shaking stops; the Gamemakers have accomplished what they set out to do. But Plutarch wouldn't let them trap me in this cave when I will almost definitely die. There must be another way out. I've just stepped away to assess the sharp stinging I'm feeling in my knee when I hear someone shout my name. "Katniss! Katniss, answer me!" I would recognize that voice anywhere and know that he could get me out.

I run to the pile of rocks and climb about halfway up, getting a glimpse of him through the break in some rocks. "Gale! Gale, I'm here! Get me out!" I plead desperately.

"Okay, just give us some time. We'll get you out in no time." He promises. Then I see them, Collin and Peeta. Griffin and Johanna must already be in the woods. Collin and Gale step up to the pile and climb up to where my face is and try to pull out the rock I'm clinging to but it won't budge. "Peeta, we need your help up here!" Gale yells.

I watch in horror as Peeta shrugs. "You won't get her out that way."

Black fury crosses over Gale's face and he climbs down, leaving Collin by himself to move the rock. "And why do you think that?" Gale demands.

"Well let's see, I've been in the games twice and I've been held prisoner inside the Capitol. I think I know a bit more than you do when it comes to how these things work." Gale is quiet so Peeta continues, gesturing to the pile of rocks. "This is something the Gamemakers did to make things more interesting. They want her dead. So they make a way for her to die. Anything we do to save her will be pointless in the end because they'll just keep attacking her."

What Peeta says is true but I know that he is lying. He knows the same thing I do: that Plutarch has an alternative route out of here. I just hope it isn't me dying. But I trust Peeta and know that he will sense it when there's something wrong so he'll come back for me. He always has.

Unfortunately, I'm the only one satisfied with Peeta's answer. Gale takes a step forward, closer to Peeta and looks down on him. "So you're just going to let her die?" he growls deeply.

"She'll be fine. Trust me." Peeta says, turning away from Gale and going to pick up the pile of weapons they had dropped in their efforts to free me.

"She'll be fine because she'll be dead." Gale spits out. He raises a gun and trains it straight on Peeta's head. "Which means I can just kill you now and get it over with."

"Gale." Collin says in a warning tone. It's the first time I hear him speak and I'm surprised that for such a big guy he has a somewhat nasally voice. But Gale doesn't listen to him. After all, why listen to someone when you know that they can kill you at any moment? Oh yeah, because you know that they can kill you at any moment. Johanna is right though; Gale is blood thirsty and doesn't see the things the way that victors do. Or people with plain old common sense.

Peeta turns slowly with his hands raised, revealing a knife that he seemingly pulled from thin air. "You don't want to do that." He says.

"Why not?" Gale demands.

"Because for one thing, she's watching us right now. Think of how pissed she'll be at you if you kill me and she survives? It doesn't take much for her to drill an arrow through someone's skull." Peeta threatens and he is so right I want to whoop and jump up and down.

"She would never kill me." Gale denies.

"Maybe not the Katniss that you grew up with but the Katniss that is in the arena with us right now will kill you because she wants to win." He pauses. "Gale, you have to trust me. Katniss will survive."

Then he wiggles the knife between his fingers and I see something flash. Just like the mockingjay did on Plutarch's watch. Then I notice that it is the same kind of mockingjay. Peeta is sending a signal to Gale so that Gale will realize that there is probably a way out of the cave. Gale nods. "Of course your right. _She_ will survive." He turns and lowers the gun. But I see the smirk on Gale's face, Peeta doesn't. So Peeta turns away and bends down to pick a coil of rope up off the ground.

And I scream "NO!" Multiple things happen at once. Gale spins around and raises the gun as Peeta does the same with a gun he pulls off the ground. Since when did the Hunger Games have guns? I don't have time to ponder it too much though as I watch in horror as Gale pulls the trigger and something falls out of the sky. A body. Johanna. She screams as she dives in front of Peeta and the bullet hits her foot.

"Johanna!" Gale yells and runs to her as she crumbles on the ground, writhing in pain. Peeta is staring straight at the spot that I am peering out of and I see him mouth 'Always' to me. I nod and climb down from the rocks. I pick up my bow and arrows and the backpack that Clint had. It has food, water, knifes and night glasses in it. Everything that I needed most. I take my rope and wrap it up and trudge through the smoke.

I know that Plutarch would not let me die this way at least so there must be a way out. Any other tribute would not think that way so they'd be concerned about moving the boulders at the mouth of the cave. But not this tribute. No, this one knows that the rocks that fell once were somewhere and that their previous home is now empty, providing a crawl space. And indeed, there is a crevice in one of the walls of the cave that was not there before. It's just big enough for me to slide through.

It extends deep into the mountain and doesn't widen very often. I finally see light about thirty feet in front of me and step into a small cavern. There's a gold ladder in the middle of the space and up above I see light. But it still seems like the light is dim and I'll still be in the mountain when I go up the ladder. Since I don't really have any choice though I climb the ladder and emerge inside of the cornucopia. And I'm not alone. I creep out of the cornucopia and see that the coast is clear. But I arm myself anyway. I find a big rock outside and place it over the ladder to conceal the hole.

I walk out of the cornucopia and see a beautiful sight. The peaks of mountains surround me and I have to wonder where exactly we are. I know there is a mountain range in District Two but nothing like this. These mountains are tall and beautiful and stretch on for miles. Clouds hover close to the tops, making the sky an eerie gray perpetually. The wind is a bit stronger up here so it's harder to hear things but I can make do. I slide the rock away from the ladder and climb back in, sliding the rock over but leaving just enough space open to let fresh air in.

I stretch out on the cool stone and unbutton the neck of my suit so I can at least breathe comfortably while I'm asleep. I have to make up for the sleep I lost last night because it may be the only time I am able to sleep. After the first couple days it's hard to find the security to even close your eyes. Now if only I could fall asleep. I lay with one arm behind my head and my other hand lying on my stomach. I start thinking about the fact that I have an actual life inside of me and that I'm just going to end it. It is such a selfish thing to do but it's for Peeta. That is justifiable enough, right?

In the dark of the cave I realize that I can't die for Peeta. I really, truly can't. The thought of leaving him alone and putting him through the pain I went through when I thought he was dead sickens me. And I only thought he was dead. How would the nightmare of actually seeing me die haunt him? And what about our unborn child that he had pleaded for, for five years actually, that he was so eager to have but now will never have the chance to have any children at all?

I hear two more cannons go off. One right after the other. I creep up the ladder and to the mouth of the cornucopia to wait for the capitol seal to appear in the sky. I only have to wait a few minutes. It shows the faces of Marsha, Clint, the girl from Five and the girl from Ten. Two more down. Thirteen left. And I still haven't killed anyone. Right now the biggest threat would be Johanna's group but I shouldn't have to worry about them just yet. And Johanna is still alive. Who else does that leave? The brother and sister. Jack, from Nine. Scarlett and Phoenix. Both tributes from Seven, the girl from Eight and Regan. And me.

I hunker down in my cave again and try to fall asleep but have an even harder time than before. So I grab my bow and head out to find something to eat. The chances of finding animals at the top of a mountain are unlikely so I slowly and cautiously make my way down the mountain. My boots quiet my steps on the unstable rocks and even give me better balance. I hear rocks clattering behind me so I keep walking, my hand tensing around my bow. There's a large rock that I duck behind, loading my bow and preparing to shoot whatever animal was behind me.

Just as I poke my head out from the side of the boulder I see Griffin standing not twenty feet away. "That's a nice outfit you have there." He sneers. "It makes it pretty difficult to kill you. You have to be a pretty good spear thrower to hit you straight in the forehead." He says, slowly walking toward me. "Lucky for me I am one of those pretty good spear throwers."

"You won't kill me." I challenge.

"It's a shame you think that because I will. We're getting pretty hungry and we could use some fresh meat. Peeta won't even know it's you when I'm roasting the meat over a fire." He says.

"Yes, he will actually." Peeta says from somewhere behind me. He raises his gun and shoots Griffin straight in the heart, not hesitating a second. Griffin drops down as cannon goes off. He huddles down next to the boulder with me and we wait for the hovercraft to leave before we say anything. "I never trusted him." He explains. "So he went out for a hunt and I followed. I walked pretty quietly too."

I nod, a little too scared to speak. Eventually I say, "Thank you. For saving me."

"Sure. No problem. But I should probably get back before they come looking for him. You have any game to share with me?" he asks.

"Sorry. I've only seen a goat since I've been out here." I tell him sadly.

He nods and sighs. "Okay, I'll see you around Katniss." He says and turns away. Two silver parachutes plunk down. One has a fresh piece of meat wrapped in plastic and the other one has a slightly smaller piece attached to it.

"Take both." I urge. "I've got plenty of food with me."

He smiles grimly and picks up the pieces of meat. "Thanks. Now get out of here. Before anyone else tries to kill you."

I turn and walk back up the mountain. Neither of us mentioned the fact that if anyone were to find out that Peeta was the one to kill Griffin the alliance would be over and he'd be dead. But Collin didn't seem to dislike Peeta. So maybe he'd spare him. But then I thought of Gale, who by now is like a brother to me and even though I hate him I would kill anyone that kills him.

Once I get back to the cornucopia I realize that I'm in deep trouble. Because when I look down into the small cavern where my stuff was it is now gone. Just as I move the boulder back into place I turn and see Jack standing in the mouth of the cornucopia, holding a spear that is aimed at my heart.

**That's where I'm leaving it for now. It was kind of a long chapter but I don't think you guys mind that too much. Review and vote please!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	11. Chapter 11

**Wow. I know it's been a relatively long time since I've updated. At least compared to how consistent I was last week. But I have some spare time on my hands so I decided to knock out another chapter. – Crack knuckles – Let's make this fast. I have to be at my boyfriend's football game in two hours.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

"Jack." I say, gulping. My eyes are trained on the spear, knowing that I can't raise my bow to get ready to shoot without him throwing the spear fast. Of course, I do have armor on and maybe Jack can't tell how thick it is and that the arrow would probably just bounce off.

"You certainly are annoying, you know. So many people have tried to kill you but somehow you've survived. Without killing anyone. Tell me, where's Bread Boy? Is he standing right behind me, holding a gun to my head?" Jack taunts.

"Maybe." Peeta says, having crept up on Jack earlier. He clicks the gun into gear. "Don't kill her." He warns. "Or I'll shoot you and it will be pointless."

"Not really." Jack says, turning so he can see me and Peeta at the same time. "I'm not going to let her win again. It's not fair to be victor three times in a row."

Peeta laughs darkly. "If you are smart, you'd know that she didn't win the Quarter Quell. No one did."

"But she still got out alive." Jack points out. "You and Johanna did too."

Peeta is staring at me, wanting me to give him the signal. Slowly, I nod. So he says, "Yep. We did. It's a shame you'll never know that feeling." Jack turns to Peeta in surprise, giving me the few seconds it takes for me to raise my bow. At the last moment though, he turns and hurls the spear at me as I release the bow string. The spear hits me milliseconds after my arrow penetrates Jack's skull.

Unfortunately, the spear doesn't bounce off my armor. As it comes toward me I see it has a steel head, making it capable to go through anything. Including the armor on my suit. I feel it dig into my side and the pain makes my crumble. It doesn't feel like it went in too deep but the pain is so intense I curl in on myself on the ground. Peeta's hands are on me in seconds, not even giving himself the time to make sure Jack is dead. He grips the spear and says, "This is gonna hurt. I'm so sorry Katniss."

I don't know what he is apologizing for. My eyesight is starting to get fuzzy and the ground underneath me is swirling and pitching. He rips the spear out of my side and I can feel blood pour out from the wound. He hurls it away from me and presses his hands against my side. "Just stay with me Katniss." He demands, leaping over me so he can look in my eyes. Somewhere in my head I think about how the citizens of Panem must be on the edge of their seats, hoping the star-crossed lovers from District Twelve will fall in love again. "Look in my eyes Katniss. Don't close your eyes. No! Keep your eyes open! Look at me!" he shouts at me frantically but my eyelids get so heavy, it's a struggle.

Keeping one hand pressed tightly against my side, Peeta uses my bow to pull the backpack toward him. He searches desperately through it, sighing hopelessly. "There's nothing in here!" he exclaims furiously, throwing stuff every which way to get to the bottom. And then I saw it in his eyes. The horrifying realization that the only way to help me was to leave and find help. "Oh God." He sighs, grabbing one of my hands and holding it to my side, gripped tightly in his hand. His hand is warm and sticky. "Just, don't take your eyes off of me Katniss." He says but when I look in his eyes I see tears.

"Peeta…" I whisper, surprised that sound actually came out. "Go…find…h-help." I struggle to get out. He looks terrified at the thought of actually leaving me here but he nods slowly, knowing I'll die if he doesn't leave.

"I'll be back before you know it." He says, kissing my forehead, his lips lingering there for a couple seconds before he springs up and takes off. I hover in and out of consciousness for the next hour or so but eventually Peeta returns with Collin, Gale, and Johanna. They huddle around me as Peeta explains what happened in a breathless voice. Johanna shakes her head.

"Peeta, it's too late…" she says.

"No! It's never too late. Now help me. Gale, put your hands there, keep pressure on it. Collin, give me your shirt and get that down coat from the backpack. Johanna, get the blanket; she's shivering." Peeta orders. No one moves. "Move your asses and save my wife!" he explodes.

I'm aware of Peeta's tears falling on my face and how hard I am shaking. How unnatural it is. Another set of hands presses into my side but the pain is too much and I've lost so much blood my vision is blurry and I can't tell who it is. Someone drapes a blanket and coat over me but I don't feel any warmer. "Just stay with me." Peeta begs and I can feel his breath at my ear. I also feel something falling on my face; something wet. He's crying. "Please, Katniss. Don't leave me."

He keeps talking. But it's pointless. I can't hear him anymore. I can't do anything anymore.

I don't know if it is days, weeks, months, or centuries later when I manage to open my heavy eyes. My head is swimming in dizziness and I can't form one clear thought. My side is throbbing and I'm still shivering, but it is from cold and not pain or blood loss like before. I move my head from side to side, trying to decide where I am. Is it night sky above me, with stars shining brightly? The thought brings me back to when Gale and I would spend the night out in the woods, sleeping under the stars. Then I wonder if maybe I'm in my bedroom back home, in District Twelve in Victor's Village, with Peeta lying by my side and the moon casting shadows over the two of us. That must be where I am.

I want to curl up next to Peeta and rest my head in the crook of his shoulder and feel his warm and strong arms around me but the pain in my side is too much. I can't move at all. I move my head to the right and open my eyes all the way, groaning quietly in pain. My eyes meet Collin's, who must be on watch duty. "Hey, easy." He orders. "You need some water?" he asks. My throat is parched but I can't find my voice.

Using the butt of the gun he's holding, Collin hits someone and they bolt upright, holding a knife in their hand. He wipes the sleep from his eyes and asks, "Is it my turn?" It's Peeta. Where am I? Why wasn't he next to me? Why is Collin in this strange place?

My head starts to hurt, making me groan again. Peeta is suddenly by my side, my eyes not being able to follow his swift movements. "Oh, Katniss. Thank God." He kisses my forehead and rests his face against mine. I can feel moisture on his cheeks.

"Hey, the Capitol seal is up." A voice says from several feet away. It sounds familiar. Who is it? "Looks like it's just the tributes from Seven today." He says. "So that leaves Regan, Scarlett, Phoenix and the siblings. We can take 'em." He sounds confident.

"Hold on Gale. Katniss is still really weak. And so is Johanna. That leaves three of us against five of them. If they've allied." Peeta reminds Gale. No one mentions the fact that their own alliance will be over when they kill them.

The body next to me stirs and releases a loud sigh. Then she sits up. "Well I've got Regan. She has been asking for a knife in her heart since training. I know she's with Scarlett and Collin and I can both take those two." She says. "They're in a cave about halfway down the mountain."

"And I can kill Phoenix easily as well." Gale volunteers. "The three of us can get the siblings tomorrow. The sooner the better."

"Hang on." Peeta interrupts. "Where does that leave me?"

Johanna raises her eyebrows. "Taking care of your wife brainless." She tells him. "Someone has to do it."

When morning comes the sun is out. Gale, Johanna and Collin leave just as it peeks over the mountains. That leaves Peeta to feed me breakfast. I lean against the side of the cornucopia, enjoying the protection from the fierce wind howling that sometimes makes the whole thing sway.

We pass the day slowly, not talking very much because there is nothing for us to say that can be truthful. We still have a show to perform, if Peeta hasn't taken off his mask already though. He was pretty close when I was stabbed; was it too close though? Was it close enough for people to realize that he wasn't guilty enough about being mad at me? Was it close enough for people to realize that we are still passionately in love and never stopped that?

I don't have long to ponder the questions though because when Gale, Collin and Johanna come back, proclaiming success, everything blows up. Peeta stands up to greet them. "I hope you've saved someone for me to kill. I need to kill at least one person before I die." He says.

"Didn't you kill Griffin?" Gale asks casually, cleaning his knife.

Collin grips his gun tighter and narrows his gaze on Peeta. Johanna gasps and I tense, waiting for someone to ask the obvious.

"How did you know that?" Peeta asks. "Katniss was the only one around. You were on guard duty." He looks at Gale suspiciously, ignoring the gun that was in Collin's hands and being pointed at his chest.

Gale avoids Peeta's gaze. But that is answer enough. We all know how he knows. "You've been cheating." Johanna says. "Who? Who's been telling you these things?"

He looks up and smiles at us. "Your dear mentor Haymitch. He's the one that told me you had been trapped in a cave, he's the one that told me you'd been stabbed, and he also told me that you killed Griffin."

We all look around at each other. None of us really knows who to kill at this point. But the realization that we're the final five tributes occurs to us at the same time. Collin is the only one to react though. Because we are all taken by surprise when he re-aims his gun and shoots Gale in the heart instead.

**I know, you hate me for leaving it there. Review and vote please!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	12. Chapter 12

"No! Gale!" I scream. I bolt to my feet but I have to grab the wall of the cornucopia and clutch my side. Johanna beats me to it anyway. As Gale is just sinking to the ground she throws a knife straight into Collin's skull. She then runs and crouches by Gale's side, clutching his hand to her chest as two cannons sound.

"NO!" she creams, the sound making both me and Peeta wince. I stumble over to kneel by Gale's side also and let the tears fall. As I gaze upon Gale's dead face I can only see the face of the teenager I met in the woods, not the soldier that I pushed away so many times in exchange for a hijacked psychopath. All thoughts of pain left my mind as my heart throbbed with a very different kind of pain. Pain that pulsed with every heart beat and caused you to ache for not only the person before you who is dead, but everyone you had known that died.

In that moment I see memories of Prim, my father, Madge, Finnick, Rue…I could only see their faces in my head. I look up in time to see Johanna stand up and pick up Gale's body and toss it out of the cornucopia like last week's trash. She looks up at Peeta and I and picks up a knife. "I know what I have to do." She whispers. She shoves the knife through her heart and stumbles to Gale's body, finally collapsing on top of it. I let out a wail of animal intensity as Peeta crouches next to me, putting his arm around me and a hand over my eyes so I don't have to watch the hovercraft pick up the three bodies.

Darkness falls and I am still crying in Peeta's arms. I know it is a matter of time before the Gamemakers take us out because the audience is getting bored. I know that I'm not crying for Gale or Johanna, but for myself because I know I will soon die too. I know that in just a matter of time Peeta will be alone in the world. As my sobs subside I become more aware of the fact that Peeta has been holding me the whole time, which means our act is officially up.

I grip the wall and try to stand up. Peeta jumps to his face and puts an arm around my waist to support me. "What's the plan?" he asks.

"To get out of here." I say, pulling away from him. I look over my shoulder when he doesn't say anything. "Alone." I add. He is under the impression that I'm going to kill him. Well that's not going to happen. He is getting out of this arena alone. I stumble to where I saw a silver parachute land earlier. On it is a note from Haymitch. _For Katniss. Remember what I said before._ A little bottle with a clear liquid inside is attached.

Peeta followed me out of the cornucopia and is staring at me as if I am a threat. I guess that in his eyes I may be, but I'm really only a threat to myself. I unscrew the cap on the bottle. "I'm sorry Peeta. I can't let you die." I say. "I love you." Then I tilt the bottle to my lips and gulp the liquid down until the bottle is empty.

My husband is frozen with shock and can't make it in time to stop me from drinking. The effect is almost immediate. I first feel it in my fingers and toes and then my arms and legs and then up my back and through my torso and into my face and neck and head. I'm frozen, can't move an inch. Can't even flinch. A fuzzy film covers my eyes but I can still see. That's the unfortunate part.

I can still see as I feel myself crumble down to the ground and my pulse weakens. I see Peeta's eyes staring directly into mine with tears flooding the deep blue. I can hear him sobbing as he feels my wrist for a pulse and sobs more when he doesn't find one. A cannon goes off. A hovercraft appears above us and lifts both me and Peeta up inside.

Plutarch Heavensbee is the first person to reach me. Peeta collapses on the floor with me in his arms but Haymitch pulls him off so that Plutarch can take me away. Beetee appears next to us and slides my eyes shut, cutting me off from the only connection to reality I had. In the dark of my subconscious, I let myself think the formidable question: _Am I dead?_

Then I think I'm crazy because a voice actually answers. _It's your choice._

_ Prim? Is that you? _I think. I know that's her voice, I would recognize it anywhere. But I must be imagining it. She's been dead for five years. The only time I talk to her is in my dreams.

_Open your eyes Katniss._ She says, so I do. And I'm shocked by what I see in front of me. I am lying in a fragrant field of yellow tulips and a bright sun. I have to squint for my eyes to adjust because it has been such a long time since I have seen the sun. But then I see her. My precious little sister who looks better than ever. She has aged several years, making her look older than me.

"Time passes quickly where I live. Don't panic." She assures me, plopping down amongst the flowers next to me. She's wearing a flowing white dress that falls down to her knees and her hair is long and wavy. Her figure is fuller than mine, resembling Mom more than me.

"How old are you?" I ask. "I mean, you have be over twenty-two."

She laughs. "There is no such thing as ages in my home. You choose how old you are." She says. "But I am married and have two kids."

"What?" I exclaim. "And you didn't invite me to the baby shower?"

"It's a difficult journey to where I am. One that I don't want you to make yet." She says seriously. Then she looks down. "That's why I'm here. You are kind of hovering between life and death. It's up to you to choose."

"Up to me to choose?" I repeat. "Well of course I want to come with you."

Prim raises her eyebrows. "And leave behind Haymitch and Beetee and Plutarch and Greasy Sae and Peeta?" she asks.

I stop smiling.

She touches my shoulder and rubs my back. "It's okay. It's not a decision you rush into though. All you need to know is that I'm not telling you what I think you should do." I look at her offensively but she waves me off. "I don't want my opinion to affect your decision." I shake my head. "Katniss, there's something else you should know." She hesitates. "Mom is dead. President Onyx killed her."

"What?" I ask, my mind not processing that bit of news.

"He thought you were going to win, so he decided to kill her." Prim says sadly. "I'm sorry."

I shake my head. "Well then there's no choice, I have to come with you. That way I can see Mom again, and Gale, Johanna, Rue, Finnick…all of those people that have died because of me." I say, standing up. "So where do we go?"

Prim stays seated on the ground. She looks at me and says, "Katniss, I'm not going to let you come with me."

"What? Then why did you tell me I had a choice?" I demand.

"Because I thought you'd choose the right option!" she exclaims, standing up and looking straight in my eye. It's a strange thing because she is now taller than me. "Katniss, Peeta is the most important thing in your life. Don't deny it because you know it is true!" she reminds me.

"But, what about you and Mom?" I ask.

"I can take care of myself. And Mom is happy. She wants you to be able to grieve with Peeta by your side." Prim tells me, holding my hands. "So go back to him, love him, care for him, and die with him in one hundred years. Don't follow me." She says. She kisses me on the cheek and then touches one finger to the middle of my forehead. "We love you." She whispers as I am thrust back into reality.

**That's it for this chapter. Please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	13. Chapter 13

The first thing I am aware of when I wake up is blue. Clear blue, like the ocean I saw in District Four. I'm hopeful that maybe I did die after all but then my vision clears and I can see that I'm staring into a pair of crystal blue eyes. Peeta.

Then I'm aware of a hand stroking my face. "Katniss." He whispers, his voice managing to bring me totally back to reality.

"Peeta." I sigh, pressing my face into his hand. "Where are we?" I ask.

"On a hovercraft getting far away from the Capitol. How are you feeling?" he asks quietly.

I hesitate and do a quick assessment of how I'm feeling. "Okay. Really. My side doesn't hurt at all. How hurt was I when we got on here?"

"They managed to fix your side. You had some major dehydration but they got some fluids in you and after that we just had to wait for you to wake up." He tells me but I can sense something he is leaving out. However, I am too tired and worn out to ask him.

"And Gale and Johanna?" I ask him, not knowing what to expect for an answer.

"Johanna they were able to save, but not Gale." He pauses. "He's gone Katniss. I'm so sorry." He drops his head to rest on my hand and I feel the wetness on his face.

"It's okay Peeta. We'll get through this." I promise, reaching my other hand over to stroke his hair. Just then the door opens and Haymitch waltzes in.

"Good, you're awake. We have a meeting to go to, so Peeta, attend to her." He demands, unhooking me from all of my IVs and tubes and getting a wheelchair for me.

Peeta shakes his head and picks me up bridal style. Haymitch smirks and mumbles something under his breath as we head out the door and down the hall of the hovercraft to a room where there is a table with ten chairs around it. At one end was Plutarch, with Beetee and someone I don't recognize next to him. Johanna is next to Beetee and Peeta and I take the two available seats across from them. The other few seats are taken by people I don't know and Haymitch is at the other end.

"So, first of all, Katniss…welcome back." Plutarch says, standing up and gesturing to me. But I'm too busy looking at Johanna who looks thin and pale and more importantly a heavy absence in her eyes. "We are all very pleased with your performance in the arena." I tear my eyes away from Johanna and nod, trying to smile but from Peeta's expression I only frown. "Now, to catch you up to speed, we are on our way out of Panem to a foreign land where we have established a sort of training camp to prepare for an upcoming rebellion in the Capitol."

I look over at Haymitch, not needing to say anything for him to comprehend what I was thinking. He spreads his hands defensively and says, "Katniss, unless you have plans of living with President Onyx ruling we have no other choice. Except for living in this new location but it isn't much compared to Victor's Village if you ask me. It's a little short on liquor too, because I know how much you love to binge behind Peeta's back."

"Who's side are you on?" I ask angrily, not bothering to look over at Peeta to see his shocked face.

"Please, let's calm down." Plutarch cuts in. "Haymitch is right, Katniss. Not for the reasons he stated but for the sole reason that if we don't kill President Onyx, who will? And then if they do kill Onyx, who will lead? There will be chaos all through Panem if we do not do something about this new uprising. We must retaliate or we will be looking at a new era of suffering for our future generations." He announces. We are all silent as we listen to him. "And Katniss, whether you like it or not, you must lead these people again."

"What? You never mentioned this part of the plan." Peeta asks, anger buried deep in his voice, as he grasps my hand under the table tightly. "She is not going to be the Mockingjay again."

"Of course not, she will be going by a different name and will even look differently when she is on TV. Beetee has been working on a technology that can make her look totally different without having to put any make-up on or anything." Plutarch assures Peeta but it does little.

So I decide to speak. "I don't think I'm up to another war." I say honestly. "I mean, what with a baby on the way, how much use will I be to you all?" I ask. No one answers. No one reacts. They all just sit and look at various spots around the room that are not near me. "What is it?" I ask.

Peeta looks over at me with guilt in his eyes. "Katniss—"

Plutarch cuts him off. "Onyx killed your mother. Doesn't that make you vengeful?" he asks me.

"Killing Onyx won't bring my mother back. It won't bring any justification to why she died." I remind him.

"You seem like you already know." Haymitch says, staring at me with questions in his eyes.

I clear my throat. "Prim told me." I tell them. "When I was unconscious, I talked to her. She told me everything."

"Everything?" Peeta asks, his voice going up a couple octaves. "Can you elaborate on what everything means?"

"You know, that Onyx killed my mother and that I'm not allowed to die for another hundred years." I tell the room.

Everyone seems to relax as Plutarch starts talking again. "We will be landing in a couple hours. Once we land we will take a bus to the camp and then we will launch our mission a week following. That gives us eight days to finalize our plans. So here is what will happen." He begins as he pulls a map of the Capitol out of a drawer and spreads it on the table in front of us.

I look up at Johanna and she is studying me. The haunted look in her eyes is gut-wrenching but there is a glimmer of hope as she looks at me. Slowly, inconspicuously, she nods, telling me that we can do this. And it won't end the same this time.

* * *

><p>It is a whole new world. Up until today I had no idea that a world outside of Panem existed but Plutarch told me that the world is much larger than any of us knew. After Panem was first created, the government officials didn't want anyone to leave what they thought was the perfect society so they cut themselves off from all the other nations in the world. Of course, little did they know that District Thirteen would later discover this dark secret and that when it is bombed, half the population moves to another nation.<p>

We ride the bus through grassy hills and eventually go into a city with winding streets that go in all different directions and have no pattern, opposing those in the Capitol that were designed so you can not get lost. These buildings in the city are different from the buildings in the Capitol too in that they don't glow different colors. They are brown and made from what looks like concrete and bricks with sparse glass windows with actual gables in them. They are all close together, the streets never wide enough for another car to pass by the bus, making the drive through the city longer than it should have taken.

People stroll down the street in normal clothes. Jeans, shirts, khakis, sweaters, sneakers…with their hair loose and natural and hardly any make-up on at all. Their skin is darker than mine and their hair and eyes dark. The stores are all painted in bright colors and look warm and welcoming. "_La Panaderia._ That's a bread bakery in their native language. And it is excellent, unlike anything you've ever made before Peeta. Perhaps I can find a way for you to meet on of the locals." Plutarch offers enthusiastically.

"Sounds great." Peeta says, smiling but only me and Haymitch can tell that he has no intention of ever doing something like that.

Most of the buildings are three or four stories tall and have little balconies in the doorways or metal sets of steps that lead to the ground. People sit in their window sills with what looks like a roll of smoking paper in their mouths or tucked between their fingers as they shout to their neighbors that are also hanging out their windows across the street, doing the same. Everyone I see looks laid back and care-free and seem like they are enjoying their life. Relaxing seems like such a foreign concept to me after all I've been through.

In between the metal sets of steps are ropes that have different color paper squares strung on them that have patterns cut out in them, making one not look like the other. Some drift down to the ground though because the wind snaps them off the rope. I see a young boy on the landing of one the metal steps through a ball that is white with black spots on it in what looks like random places. "That's a football. It's used for a game where you kick a ball around and you try to score in the other team's goal and you can't use your hands to throw it." Plutarch tells Peeta and I. The two of us are practically hanging out the window in curiosity.

The bus jerks to a stop; the fifth time in ten minutes. A woman with a young boy shouts to us. "_Usted está loco! __Aprender a conducir por lo que no mató a nadie!_" she shouts as she shakes her fist at us. Peeta and I both look at each other, puzzled, with no idea what she said but both of us liking the sound of the strange tongue.

"She was just saying that the driver is crazy and should learn how to drive so he doesn't kill anyone else." Plutarch tells us.

Peeta looks over at him. "You understand what they are saying?" he asks in disbelief.

"_Si, hablo en español._" Plutarch nods. "I learned when I heard that this government was willing to ally with us and discovered that neither of us knew what the other was saying. It was quite confusing so now they speak our language and we speak theirs. And, like I've already told Johanna, I will not teach you all the curse words."

"But you will teach us, right?" Haymitch asks.

"In the short time that you are here I will teach you what I can. But we will all be very busy and it will be difficult to find time to become fluent. This language is very different from our own." Plutarch says.

The bus stops in the middle of the road and the doors open. "Is this where we are stopping?" I ask, allowing Peeta to help me up.

"Yes." Plutarch says. "We don't need our camp to be out in the open like last time so the government gave us an entire building to work in." We all step off the bus and into the loud noise of the city, much different than the quiet hum of the Capitol. Plutarch walks inside a nondescript building with tinted windows and a black door. Above the street hangs a rope with more bright paper squares strung on it but in the middle is a large white one with the mockingjay symbol cut in it.

"Well that's not obvious at all." I mumble as I take one last look at the street before going inside with Peeta supporting most of my weight under his arm.

"If you want to go out and not find the building ever again we can take it down." Plutarch says. Peeta and I look at each other and agree that he's right; it's not like anyone from the Capitol knows where we are.

We step into an open room with small tiles on the floor and the walls. There are arches that lead to different hallways and one large one that opens up into a courtyard. There is an attractive woman that has the same dark skin and hair as everyone else here sitting behind a large oak desk in the middle of the room. "Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Mellark and Mr. Haymitch." She says in a thick accent, smiling warm at us. "Or, as we say here, _beinvenidos_!" She is practically bouncing with excitement. Her eyes kept flicking to Haymitch but he didn't notice because he was too busy eyeing up the liquor cabinet in the corner of the foyer.

Then Plutarch says, "Sophia will show you to your rooms and then we will meet at the dining hall for dinner at ten and immediately after that we will have our meeting."

**I know this is kind of a boring chapter so I stopped here because I didn't want to drag. Please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	14. Chapter 14

**Wow. It has been like, forever since I last updated. I've just been having computer problems and then this week is homecoming so I've been spending half of my life at school for dance practice for pep rally. So yeah, even as I'm typing this I probably won't be done this chapter for another few days. But please enjoy and review anyway!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

**P.S. in the last chapter Plutarch said they wouldn't be launching the mission for a week, I think. I don't remember if I put that in or not. But yeah, I'm changing it to a month.**

**P.P.S another thing is that some of you commented on the fact that Peeta seemed very subdued in the last chapter when Katniss woke up. Just for some clarification, there was never any doubt to whether she would live or not, Plutarch and Haymitch knew that her life was in no danger. They just needed Peeta to know that so that his reaction would be genuine. So when she woke up he was relieved just to see her. Its not like she suddenly made a miraculous recovery and woke up from the dead. **

We've been at base camp for a few days and I'm already hating it. The only good thing is that Peeta and I are sharing a bedroom so we can have some privacy. Other than that though, we are not exactly having the time of our lives. Compared to our conditions in the arena it is great but I still felt like I was in Hell. We are never allowed to leave the building without trained Peacekeepers by our side and we had to armed and armored. I am excused from training so I can recuperate from my recent injuries.

The food is sufficient, better than what we had in District Thirteen but it's still not Peeta's good home-cooking that I have grown accustomed to. We are still restricted to the amount of food we could eat which is difficult for me because of the boredom I am suffering from. I don't know what else to do besides eat. I don't want to talk to anyone about the Games or the danger I had yet to face.

One night I am sitting on the bed in our room carving a branch I had picked off a tree in the courtyard into an arrow and Peeta walks in, dragging a hand across his forehead to wipe off the sweat. As he shut the door tight behind him he stripped his shirt off and went to the small wardrobe that held some of our clothes from District Twelve in it. He picked out a light green button-down shirt and threw it on, facing me as he started buttoning his shirt.

"How was training?" I ask conversationally, not taking my eyes away from my work.

"Pretty good. Tomorrow we have a meeting about the next step to why we are here. Apparently we are going to recruit more soldiers to be on our side and it involves going to other nations." He tells me, sliding his sweat pants off and putting a pair of jeans on.

"We?" I ask. He sighs and looks at me with sad eyes. He buttons his pants and sits down next to me on the bed, reaching a hand out to rest on my knee. "Who does the we include?" I ask bitterly.

He smiles grimly. "Don't feel obligated to go. If you're not up to it you can stay—" he begins but I'm quick to cut him off.

"Why is everyone treating me like I'm a piece of glass? Or like just one little bruise will kill me? I can take care of myself. Have I not proved it on numerous occasions?" I ask.

I expect Peeta's reaction to be somewhat angry but he surprises me by throwing back his head and laughing. "Katniss, how could you ever think that we believe that? Haymitch said so himself today that the last person he'd want as a sparring partner would be you."

"Then why do you all underestimate me so much?" I ask, not at all comforted by his assurances.

He laughs again and strokes my face with the back of his hand. "We don't underestimate you. We protect you. You are so caught up with thinking that we don't think you're good enough for our missions that you haven't realized just how valuable you are."

"I know how valuable I am." I mumble, referring to the cash reward that I had pinned on my forehead during the last rebellion.

"I wasn't talking about that." He says, knowing just what I am thinking. "I was talking about how valuable you are to us. You are so meaningful to all of us."

I roll my eyes. "How?"

"Think about it Katniss. You are the only one in the past thirty or so years that has ever truly cared for Haymitch. You are the only friend Johanna has left. You are the best weapon in Plutarch's arsenal. And to me…you're everything." He pauses. "We all love you so much that we can't bear to lose you.

I look straight into his blue eyes and see nothing but honesty and sincerity. I don't know how to respond in words to convey how I feel so I lean closer to him and kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you." I whisper.

Two days later we are on another hovercraft, flying farther away from Panem and heading toward another base camp Plutarch established. This one was located in a different nation much farther away from Panem and was more out in the open, allowing for more training with explosives than the other one in Spain. We landed after flying for three days.

When we emerge from the hovercraft we are surrounded by plains with swaying grass and small trees sticking out in random places. The sky above is as blue as the ocean. There is a light breeze that cools our skin against the blistering heat of the sun. My Mockingjay uniform is good for keeping me warm and dry, but it doesn't do much against heat.

In the middle of the plains is a large cluster of tents and large trucks, built specifically for off-roading. We enter the area of tents and see that it os a lot like a little city. There were tents where people were selling food and clothes and other precious goods. There were other tents that held livestock in them. Other tents were for living in; their inhabitants sitting inside, protected from the sun and fanning themselves

Plutarch leads us through the small tent village and stops in front of one of the larger tents. "This is where all of us are staying for these next few days." He says, opening the front flap and waving us in. There are various mats laying on the temporary floor with netting tacked to the ceiling canvas of the tent. Peeta leads me over to one of the corners where the mats are somewhat secluded. There are four there. Peeta, Haymitch and I are claiming three. I kneel down to unpack some of the things in my backpack when Peeta looks over his shoulder toward the entrance of the tent. I follow his gaze and my eyes land on Johanna, who is standing in the entrance of the tent. He stands up and runs over to her. He takes her backpack, even though he is still carrying his, and slings it over his available shoulder. He says something to her that I can't hear over the clamor of everyone unpacking. Whatever he says makes her smile, say something in return, and they both start laughing. Like, _laughing _laughing. He takes her hand and leads her toward our area of the tent. Her face starts to fall as she comes over though, and when Peeta sees her frown returning he reaches a hand over and rests it on the small of her back, what he does with me when he knows I'm worried.

He sets her backpack on the one closest to me, and his next to hers. Haymitch is on the other side of Peeta. Johanna kneels down and starts to unpack her backpack and Peeta is quick to kneel down and help her. Haymitch looks at me from behind Peeta's turned back, and I shake my head inconspicuously. For the rest of the day, Peeta doesn't talk to me. In fact, he doesn't pay much attention to me at all.

**Uh-oh, what's happening?**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	15. Chapter 15

**I know I've been really slow to update lately, but I've just been so busy. Homecoming last week was absolutely amazing and my football team even won 41-0. Anyway, I'm real sorry about not updating sooner. I promise the updates will come faster because there is some major drama coming.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

Peeta catches me the next morning as I am walking to the food tent. "Hey, what's up?" he asks. I roll my eyes; only Peeta would be so nonchalant with me. "Why haven't you been talking to me?" he asks. I don't answer. As if he doesn't know.

"Where's Johanna?" I ask, throwing the curtain of the tent aside.

"She was still asleep when I left her this morning. You weren't there when I woke up though. Is everything okay?" he asks.

I nod. "I'm fine. Just, you know, morning sickness and all that." I lie to him. The truth is that I really went out for an eight mile run, something I hadn't been able to do since before the Games. He grabs my elbow and whirls me around.

"What?" he demands, his voice louder than usual. "You mean you were sick this morning?"

I break away from his grasp and move to where people are getting stew slurped out onto their plates by the helpers that were hired from a nearby village. Plutarch is sitting at a wooden picnic table with Haymitch, eating his breakfast with a bright smile on his face. I skip the food and sit with them, watching as Peeta gets his food and sits with some of the other troops.

"This is just great." Plutarch says between bites of a food that looks extremely unappetizing. "Everything is going as planned…we may even be able to extend our tour here…or maybe spend some time partying back in Spain…" he rambles.

Haymitch and I exchange glances. He nods and says, "Well we should not get too cocky. If we have free time, we save it for the end of our tour. It's still early in the game, something major can happen and change things."

I nod in agreement. "Of course you are right Haymitch." Plutarch says. "We should remain constantly on guard." He shrugs. "While we party." He adds under his breath. Johanna carries her bowl of food toward our table and looks at us hopefully, but I put my feet up in the space she was about to occupy. Of course, that is stupid of me because then she just goes and sits by Peeta.

I look over across the table and see Plutarch staring me down. "What?" I snip.

"Is there drama I should know about? Because she is expendable." He says, waving his spoon between me and where she's sitting.

"It's nothing to worry about. That I know of at least." I tell him.

Haymitch rolls his eyes. "Yeah, your husband not talking to you is no big deal at all." He says sarcastically.

"He is talking to me. He's just being a gentleman and taking care of Johanna. You know she isn't completely sane right now so he's just watching her to protect me." I lie to Plutarch and Haymitch easily. "Now if you excuse me, I am going to explore a bit."

I walk back to the tent and retrieve my bow and arrows from where I've hidden them when I notice Peeta is following me. "What is this really about?" he asks. He was always one to cut to the chase when he really wanted an answer. Such was the case now.

So I tell him. "Is there something going on between you and Johanna?"

He looks shocked that I asked that. He obviously wasn't expecting that to be a problem. But then again, he is a guy and I have to give him a little credit for knowing there was something wrong in the first place. "What are we, twelve?" he asks, smiling slightly.

"I'm being serious Peeta." I tell him in a quiet voice, paranoid that someone was listening to us talking. I cross my arms and plant my feet, not willing to move anywhere until I get a straight answer from him.

"Yeah, me too." He chuckles and moves toward me to rub the tops of my arms. "There is nothing going on between me and Johanna. She and I…we're just…listen Katniss, she and I have a different kind of relationship. You know that."

I nod. "I do know. But this seems even more different than usual." I tell him.

Then Peeta understands what I'm talking about. "Katniss, I promise you, on my own life, that I hold no romantic feelings for Johanna or anyone else. I love you and only you and it will always be that way." He looks fiercely into my eyes, his blue eyes piercing and serious. He cups my face in his hands and leans down to kiss me tenderly.

* * *

><p>Later that day I am helping Plutarch, Johanna and some of the other soldiers from Panem clear some dry brush out to make space for more tents. After working for a few hours in the hot sun Plutarch suggests taking a water break. We sit on some rocks that rest underneath a small tree. Peeta is out in the open fields doing some training with explosives along with Haymitch.<p>

"So Katniss…" Johanna says slyly. "How are you feeling?" She and I are sitting with Plutarch between us.

I look at her and answer defensively, "Fine. Why?"

"Well, I know that this weather isn't exactly…conducive for someone that is pregnant." She says conversationally. But I see exactly what she is doing and I am not going to let her succeed.

"Just cut to the chase Johanna." I order, putting my water canteen down on the ground and rubbing my sweaty palms on my jeans.

She laughs. "Well, you haven't showed any signs of you being pregnant lately. You haven't even been sick at all."

"I was sick this morning." I quickly lie.

"Oh please Katniss. Everyone can see through your petty little lies. You were sweaty at breakfast this morning and no one is ever sweaty after getting sick. Are you sure that maybe, you didn't go for a little jog?" she asks me, standing up.

Plutarch coughs, setting his own canteen down. I ignore him though. "I did go for a run. But it was before I got sick."

"So then are you sure that you didn't just get sick because you were overheated?" she presses.

I stand up. "Are you saying that I'm lying about being pregnant?"

"Well I wasn't going to say it like that." She hints. "Maybe you should ask Haymitch, or better yet…Peeta. They are the two that told you you're pregnant in the first place, right?"

Tears begin to well up in my eyes. I look at Plutarch and the pained expression on his face is all I need to confirm what Johanna was saying. I run back to the village and into our tent, pacing for a few moments before going to my backpack and packing all of my things. A few hours later people start returning to the tent to freshen up for lunch. I am still packing when Peeta comes in. "What are you doing?"

"How could you lie to me?" I ask.

"Lie to you about what?" he says, kneeling down next to me.

I stand up and kick my backpack aside. "About me being pregnant! You lied to my face and made me think that…that…" I stop talking because I have nothing else to say, really. The damage is already done; my saying something to him is just a waste of my breath. It won't change what he has done.

**So that's where I've ended it for now. I know it was a weird chapter but I promise that things will get exciting in the next chapter. **

**Now, let me go on record because I'm sure that if you live in America you have heard about the Penn State scandal. Well let me just say that Joe Paterno is totally, completely, undoubtedly, 100% innocent. He did the right thing and though there was little action taken after he made the report several years ago, he didn't continue to take action because he did not want to ruin the Penn State name. Unfortunately, years later that name has been ruined along with his because people are being stupid and claiming that he should have done more. I am sticking by the Paterno family. If he loses his job because of this, I am _NOT_ going to Penn State for college.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	16. Chapter 16

**So yeah, I'm not really in a good mood now so expect someone to die during this next chapter. Review please. Maybe I'll spare your favorite character.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

When everyone is asleep that night, I'm still awake. Haymitch is snoring like a bear next to me; I'm the only one that knows about the bottle of liquor hidden underneath his pillow. I sit up on my elbows and look over at Peeta. He doesn't look relaxed at all but I can tell he is asleep. He twitches making me aware of the nightmares that are haunting his unconsciousness but he never wakes up from his nightmares. I'm safe for a few minutes and that's all I need.

I grab my knife out of my backpack. After I free myself from the mosquito netting, I cut a hole in the bottom of the tent and push my backpack through. I then slide out and use a couple broken arrows to seal it. I sling my backpack over my shoulder and walk down the deserted pathway through the tents. I find the tent that was established as our arsenal and find the soldier that is supposed to be guarding our weaponry is fast asleep. I creep past him and go to the wardrobe and use my knife to unlock it. It takes me hardly any time to put on my Mockingjay suit and retrieve my special bow and arrows. I steal more arrows from the general weapons closet, knives from Johanna's closet and guns from Peeta's section. Then, wanting to take something from Haymitch, I go to the supply tent and steal liquor from the same place that he had been stealing it from. My backpack is a lot heavier but it's nothing I can't handle.

The supply tent is located on the edge of the village. I walk past the tree that we had rested earlier that day. I walk past the fields where Peeta and Haymitch were training earlier that day. Eventually I am in open fields with no idea where I am headed, just walking with the sole desire to put as much distance between myself and Peeta as possible. If he dies, so what? It would be karma for lying about the life of another human being.

Temperatures start to plummet around midnight. The moon is full, providing me with enough light to see any rocks I could trip over. It gets cold enough for me to actually be able to feel it in my suit. I can see my breath and my nose starts to run. I pull out a bottle of liquor and drink it as I walk. Strangely, after several hours of walking, I'm not tired. It is only when the first signs of dawn appear that I realize just how tired I am. But as a survivalist, I would feel better sleeping at night in the plains and not in the day when countless animals could find me and kill me without me even noticing.

Just as the sun peaks over the distant hills I see something on the horizon. From a mile away, it looks like a large area of jagged rocks. From a half-mile away it looks like a bunch of square bushes. Then, from a quarter-mile away, I know what it is. Another tent village. Part of me is praying that I hadn't been walking in circles but this one is different. I can tell as soon as I see the flag flying on a tall pole stretching up from what I assume is the center of the village. Unlike the village I had been living in, this village does not appear to have any natives living in it. I do not go unnoticed though. People stop whatever they are doing as I walk by and stare. Someone actually points. Another person grabs the person next to them and whispers something. A woman grabs a child and hides them behind her legs.

A hush falls over the village as I walks through, heading toward where the flag pole is. I'm aware of people walking behind me, following me and whispering things.

"Is that the Everdeen girl…?"

"That's the Mockingjay…"

"Has she come here to kill us all…?"

"Why do you think she's here…?"

The whispers continue as I finally walk into a square that reminds me of the town square back in District Twelve. This is the first time I've thought of District Twelve since the Games. It feels like a century since Peeta and I were living peacefully back in our house in Victor's Village. Back in a time where only in my mind I had to fight for my life everyday. Back in a place where I felt secure waking up in Peeta's arms every time a mind-numbing nightmare would invade my dreams. Back in a world where I could actually trust Peeta. Five years ago he was the one that felt he couldn't trust me; I never thought the roles would be reversed.

The square is full of people, all walking in different directions and too busy with their own lives to notice me and the crowd following me. Eventually a man in khakis and a crisp, blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows notices me. He drops the box he is carrying, needles filled with a pink fluid spilling out of it. I stop in my tracks and stare at the contents of the box, forcing him to bend down and put them back in the box quickly. He picks the box up and motions for me to follow him. I walk behind him, trying to decipher what tongue he is speaking in. We enter a tent that is furnished luxuriously; it could rival the library before Peeta turned it into his studio.

There is a blonde woman sitting behind a large oak desk, typing on a tablet. She doesn't look up to see who has entered the tent; she simply says something in the same alien tongue. The man leaves but the look he gives me tells me to stay. I sit in one of the chairs across from the desk. There are a few moments of uncomfortable silence with her just typing on her tablet. After about six minutes she lays it down and folds her hands over it. "Katniss Everdeen. It is an honor. Our field detectors picked you up once you were within a mile of our humble little village here." She says. She has a Capitol accent.

"This is humble?" I ask, looking around the tent and recalling the fancy square outside.

"For now it is." She says, smiling deviously. "Now do you know who I am?" I don't answer. "No, of course not. I am Lucinda Monty. My great-great-grandfather was the first president of Panem."

I nod. "Right. Yeah, I totally know who you are."

"You shouldn't lie to me Katniss." She advises quickly in a steely tone. "I'm not the type of person you want to trifle with." She pauses and smiles warmly at me. "So what brings you here to our humble town?"

There is that word again. _Humble_. I am starting to get the feeling that this woman wouldn't know what that word really meant if it smacked her in the face. She had never seen the starving people of District Twelve or the rubble of the destroyed districts with the thousands of homeless people sweeping the streets, searching for their loved ones and any source of food they could find.

I give Lucinda the steeliest of my gazes. "Right, I should have known that you wouldn't tell me why you are here, stranded in the African plains, and not safe at home with your husband." She says, trying to coax the answer out of me.

"You can say anything. I will not tell you." I say to her.

"Of course." She sighs. She stands and walks around the desk to stand behind me. "You see Katniss, the only problem is that I don't really care why you are here. I just need to know how long you are planning on staying."

Alarms immediately go off in my head. My pulse speeds up and a cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck. The hairs on my arms stand up and I fight to regulate my breathing. Because I know that this town is not here to help people like the other one. This town is here to carry out an evil plan. And I've walked into a trap.

"Why?" I ask evenly.

"Because I don't want you around to screw up our plan." She whispers in my ears. Her breath is cold.

I smile coolly and stand up. "Well thank you very much for your hospitality but I think I'll just keep walking." I tell her, about to walk by her but she pushes me back with enough force that I fight to stay on my feet.

"I can't let you leave now Katniss. Not until the plan is in motion." She says, pushing me around her desk but I snap. I reach to my sheath of arrows only to find that it isn't on my back anymore. I look around for my bow, knowing that it can work just as well to hit people with but that is gone too. "You'll get your weapons back. But first," she says, pushing me into her chair, "watch this." She grabs my face by my chin and turns it toward a TV sitting on a table by her desk.

I see a bunch of hovercrafts sitting in the open plains, being loaded with explosives. "Do you know where those are headed?" she asks. I don't answer because the thought is unfathomable. She presses a button on a remote and I see the food tent in the village that I had been living in where a meeting with the troops is being held. But the camera focuses on Peeta, who is sitting alone at a table with Haymitch with his face in his hands. I see him shake his head. Haymitch leans over to him and says something but Peeta shakes his head. "Those bombs are headed straight for _him_."

**That's it for now. Please review.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	17. Chapter 17

**Who is like me and is so _not _excited for Breaking Dawn? I mean, I'll go see it but it's hard to compete with the Hunger Games. Especially since they don't involve vampires and werewolves like every other TV show and movie. Anyway…**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

I watch in horror as one by one soldiers board the hovercrafts, each of them carrying a virtual arsenal of weapons on their bodies. Then, they all took to the sky. People outside the tent cheer and raise their arms to wave to the people flying in the hovercrafts, yelling their encouragement. I start doing the math in my head, trying to figure out just how long it would be before they reach Peeta. Lucinda releases me. "Go. Try to stop them. Try to save the love of your life." She says. I don't need to be told twice.

Just as I reach the entrance of the tent she calls my name again. "You should know that after you fail at this rescue, we are headed straight for Panem." I am already too stricken with fear for her words to affect me. Without a moment's hesitation I sprint outside and through the village the same way I came.

When I reach the open plains I pull out an explosive arrow and aim at the hovercrafts. I'm still miles away from my village but maybe I could warn everyone of the coming danger if they hear the explosions. I shoot down maybe ten hovercrafts and then notice that I don't have any more of my arrows left. The more I hesitated the farther away the hovercrafts were. As the hovercrafts grew ever smaller in the distant, I lengthened my strides and pounded my boots harder into the dirt.

Then they become too small for me to see. As I run though, they get bigger, like they have stopped in the air. Then I see a massive ball of fire erupt from the ground. After that, things turn into a blur. I keep running as I see more explosions and people running frantically out of the village. Within minutes of the first explosion I start running past people that are clutching bloody loved ones as they seek shelter from the alien attack.

Soldiers are crouching behind bags of wheat and potatoes clutching their guns. Some are lucky enough to get some shots in at the hovercrafts but only explosives seem to be able to bring them down. I don't crouch down to help them though; I run straight for the arsenal. I am the only one able to use the explosive arrows so I go straight to the archery section and grab more. On my way out I hear someone yelling. I turn and see Haymitch ordering soldiers around and pushing them in the right direction. He has a bloody shoulder. "Haymitch!" I yell, running toward him.

He looks at me for a second, surprise evident in his eyes. "Katniss, you have to get out of here!" he orders, going back to pushing soldiers around. "You're not safe here!"

"It's not me they want to kill. They want to kill Peeta." I yell to him, trying to reach him but the soldiers are in a tight bunch around him. Another explosion shakes the earth. This one is close.

Haymitch's eyes get wide. "Peeta?" he asks, as if he thinks I'm lying. Then he yells, "Go find him! I sent him to the western border."

I push through the throng of soldiers in the direction that Haymitch points. It is the western side of the village taking the strongest beating. Explosions threaten to knock me off my feet and I can't help but wonder where all of these bombs are coming from. The hovercrafts must be circling back around again and again. The attack gets worse and I am eventually forced to crouch by a heap of flour sacks. There are three more explosions, then one more that is almost like a hiccup because it is so out of sync with the others. Following the hiccup, there's silence. But then people start screaming. They come out of their hiding places. I look to the sky to make sure the hovercrafts are gone before I move away from my asylum.

People are swarming toward this section of the village to help find people and help them. As I walk I realize there is a sharp pain in my knee but I have to find Peeta; I can't take time out just to examine what is probably nothing more than a piece of shrapnel. A flash of yellow catches my eye and I instantly know it's him. "Peeta!" I yell, seeing him through the sea of people. He somehow hears me over everyone's desperate shouts and instantly comes toward me.

When we reach each other I wrap my arms around him. "I'm so sorry." I whisper to him. I can feel his tears dripping onto my head.

"Don't worry. It's my fault. We can talk later but right now we need to make sure they aren't going to come back." He says faintly. His voice is cracking and dry. When he turns to lead me away from everyone I notice he has a deep gash in the side of his head.

"Peeta, you're hurt." I say, grabbing his arm and assuming the lead. The medical tent was still in a decent state when I went by earlier. He reaches a hand up and notices the blood. Then he notices my limp.

"You are too." He says. I smile weakly at him.

"Well I guess we're just a couple of invalids." I mumble, dragging him to the medicine tent. The doctors have their hands full of other people that are injured. I make Peeta sit on a table as I examine his head. I find some antiseptic and thread to stitch the cut up. I rip a piece of his pants off and tell him to hold it to the wound and keep pressure there.

As I slide one of my boots off Peeta says, "What would I do without you?" I shake my head and roll the leg up of my suit past my knee and see a deep gash running down the side. Peeta sighs and puts the wad of fabric down and stands, motioning for me to take his place. He holds my foot to elevate my leg as I stitch up the cut and put antiseptic on it. Plutarch walks into the tent and immediately walks toward us, his face creased with worry lines. He seems unharmed.

"You two have to get out of here. There are hovercrafts waiting for you guys." He says, grabbing me by the elbow and standing me up.

Peeta and I follow him out into the chaos of the ruined village as I say, "What about Haymitch and Johanna?"

"You and Peeta are the targets. We can't waste time on other people." He answers harshly. We follow him through the crowds and out onto an open field. The hovercraft's engines are roaring and make it difficult to hear each other.

But I yell anyway. "As victors it's our job to help people." I yell, pointing to Peeta and I. Peeta looks torn. He's standing in the door to the hovercraft, not knowing whether to agree with me and risk our lives to help Johanna and Haymitch or to be selfish and protect me.

"As victors it's your nature to put your own lives before others. Now get in the hovercraft." He yells, stepping toward me. Peeta's eyes are wide and he is really debating whether or not to jump in the middle of us.

I look straight into Plutarch's eyes and say, "Well this isn't an arena, is it? Peeta and I are changed people now. We aren't the same victors we were five years ago." Most of my declaration is drowned out by the drone of the engines.

Peeta steps down and loops his arm through mine. "Come on Katniss. Let's go home." He says. Just like that, he changes my mind. Because of that one word. _Home. _I nod and allow him to lift me up onto the hovercraft and sit me down in one of the comfy chairs on board.

**Okay. So there will be a bit more action and then it'll just turn into drama and anxiety after that…with a little bit of fluff thrown in. But I don't see Peeta and Katniss as a really fluffy couple so it won't be too clichéd I hope. Review please.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	18. Chapter 18

**So yeah, it's really late and I am really tired and I've had a really bad couple of weeks. I have one question for you teenage girls that are like me and love a good romance: Doesn't it totally suck ass when the guy you likes tells you that he only likes you as a friend and then after you two have a totally amazing time at homecoming together he stops talking to you? Yeah…that sums up my life right now. **

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

Peeta and I walk hand-in-hand down the street in Victor's Village. We walk by the empty houses with the windows revealing no light and past the houses that hold large families celebrating a holiday that was no longer important to either of us. They are all so euphoric and care-free while we are trapped in a world of hate and stress. I peek in a window briefly and see a family of four sitting around a table eating dinner and laughing at something that one of the girls sitting there said. Peeta tugs on my hand and I realize I have actually stopped outside the window to gape. He wraps his strong arm around me and drags me toward our house. On the way though, we pass by my old house. "Peeta, wait." I whisper, moving his arm away from me. I look up at the dark windows that once held the same light and happiness that the families down the road were experiencing. The dining room once held the same laughter, the living room once held the same unity. The bedrooms once held different members of a family too.

_You're the only one left, Katniss. The people that walk through that house now are just ghosts. _A small voice in my head says. That's enough to break me. I crumble down on the first couple of steps leading to the front door and sob. I had not thought about my mother much when I was in Spain and Africa. Now that I am back in District 12 and standing in front of the house she and I both used to live in, the overwhelming grief and remorse fill my body, seeps through my bones, and shakes my soul. Peeta sits down on the step next to me. He knows better than to hug me or kiss me; he just puts a hand on my shoulder and holds it tight. Finally I cry myself out and fall asleep with my face buried in my arms, still lying on the steps of my old house. Now he picks me up and carries me to our house.

Over the next couple of days I retreat back into the girl I was when the rebellion ended and Prim was killed. I stop talking, stop trying. I find small places to hide in and just sit there. Peeta, who is not quite sure if he is forgiven or not and doesn't want to explain anything until I feel better, leaves me in bed early every morning to help with the construction of the bakery. It has only been a little over a month since it burned down and the work is slow because they have been having problems finding people to help build. When he comes home to eat lunch I am still in bed, not sleeping or crying, just lying there. He brings me some warm bread and soup and kisses me and then goes back to work. Then I sneak off and hide somewhere for the afternoon. Then he comes home for the night and finds me. He brings me to the kitchen and heats up the soup that he left for me earlier that day and tries to make me eat it but he can usually only manage a few bites. Then we go to bed. It isn't long until he is asleep but he wakes up frequently to check on me. I can't sleep. I can't do anything. My life is just a constant cycle. Watch Peeta go, stay in bed, watch Peeta give me soup and bread, go hide, wait for Peeta to find me, watch Peeta try to feed something, then go to bed and wait all through the night to do it again.

One night, about three days after arriving home, he lays the spoon down on the table and sighs. "Katniss. I know this is hard for you. Please tell me, is there anything I can do? Do you even want soup?"

I don't do anything to answer. The desperation in his eyes is enough for me to realize that I can't go on like this. I can't live my life like a zombie. I can't wait for those people to attack Panem and kill me. So the next morning when he leaves I get out of bed and take a shower. I stare at my naked body in the mirror that hangs in the bathroom and see that I've lost precious pounds that I really can't lose if I want to stay fit. I can see every bone and muscle as it moves. I can count my ribs. I can see all of the muscles in my upper arms. I shower and brush the tangles out of my hair. I put on clean clothes. I do everything step-by-step. I go downstairs. I take out a bunch of vegetables. I look at the clock. I realize that Peeta will be home for lunch any minute. I think about how excited he will be that I'm doing something. My excitement distracts me. I cut my wrist on the knife I was using to chop the vegetables. I stare at the blood spilling out of my finger. I feel the pain. I shout an expletive.

From outside I hear Peeta shout my name. I stumble around the kitchen, trying to find something to staunch the flow of blood that has left a trail on the wooden floors. He runs in and assesses the situation quickly. He grabs a towel and wraps it around my wrist tightly. "What the Hell are you doing?" he shouts, his face close to mine. His blue eyes are wild with panic and fear.

I shake my head. "I just wanted to do something—" I choke out as I start crying.

Peeta looks down at my wrist. "And killing yourself is doing something?"

"I wasn't trying to kill myself Peeta." I cry, looking at him. I was surprised that he would even think I would do that. "I wanted to do something _for you_."

He sighs and shakes his head. "Just…stay here. I'll go get something to stitch up your wrist." He eyes me carefully before heading to the closet down the hall. When he comes back he lifts me up and sits me on the counter, opening the sewing kit. He removes the towel and works quietly. Shortly after we got married I taught him how to stitch wounds and it has paid off these past few years. When he finishes he looks up at me with compassion in his eyes. "Katniss, I'm really worried about you." He whispers, not wanting to say anything that could upset me even more. When I don't answer he continues, "I talked to the guys at the bakery today and I've decided to take a break. I'm not much of a contractor anyway." He smiles faintly. "Please say something."

I sniff. "I don't want you to leave work."

"I have to take care of you Katniss." He insists. "You're obviously…not, taking this well." He says reluctantly.

And that's it. I just start crying and I feel as if I won't ever stop. My head falls onto his shoulder and his arms wrap around my waist. He didn't hold me a couple nights ago because he knew those were tears of anger. He knows that these tears are for real now. That I am not okay. That I really miss my mom. Somewhere in the midst of my bawling I find a way to tell him that those people are coming for Panem. I don't recall when I say it or how. I just remember Peeta's panicked expression. Then he kisses my head and whispers, "It's okay. No one is going to touch you."

I eventually fall asleep in Peeta's arms and when I wake up I am in bed with the afternoon sun spilling through the windows. I stretch and groan as I open my eyes. Peeta is asleep next to me with his back facing me. I nudge him with my elbow and whisper his name. He jumps when he wakes up and then relaxes when he sees I woke him up. "Hey." He muses sleepily.

"How long have I been out?" I ask. I clear my hoarse throat.

Peeta rubs his stubbled jaw and sighs. "You've been asleep off and on for the past day or so. You never really woke up though, it was just nightmares." He pauses. "Greasy Sae was with you last night and this morning because Haymitch and I were off with Plutarch trying to formulate a plan to fight against these people coming."

I nod. "Right. You come up with anything?"

"Not really. We've managed to track the hovercrafts to where they landed in Europe to get more ammo and more hovercrafts because according to Plutarch we did a number on most of them."

"Wait. When did Haymitch get back?" I ask.

Peeta shakes his head. "Last night. Anyway, Plutarch gives you most of the credit for the downed hovercrafts. He said they found enough parts to make ten out in the fields by the village."

My eyes get wide. "Are those people okay?" I ask.

He smiles. "They're fine. Some more medical personnel arrived yesterday." He reaches a hand up to stroke my cheek. "Katniss, everything is okay." Then he realizes he misspoke.

I hold up a hand to stop the apology I knew was coming. "Don't worry about it. I need to move on. Just like I moved on with Prim. I need to keep living my life until it's easier to do."

"But more people are going to die. There's no denying that." Peeta tells me.

I nod. "I know that Peeta. And we'll recognize them just like we did with the rebellion but there's also no denying the fact that death has just become part of our lives. Yes, we've lost friends. But as long as we have each other, we'll be okay. Right?"

He hesitates, his gaze boring into my eyes, searching for anything that tells him I'm lying; which I'm not. Finally he nods. "Yes. You're right. We do still have each other. I love you." He says, kissing the tip of my nose.

I sigh and lean into him. For now, all I need is Peeta and I'll be okay. I'll worry about the rest later.

**Okay, I know you all are wondering when the whole lying scheme will come into play and you're confused but I promise, explanations will come soon! For now, just review and ask me any questions you have because sometimes I forget to answer them. **

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	19. Chapter 19

I don't get much time to relax though because that afternoon, Haymitch tells us that we have to go to District Thirteen to start planning our defense. Peeta complains but I ignore him, obeying orders by packing my things and Peeta's too. We arrive in District Thirteen just as the sun is rising the next morning. It's colder here than it was in Twelve and all of the new buildings that were built after the rebellion are blanketed with snow.

Plutarch greets us as soon as we exit the hovercraft. All of the hostile tension that was between him and I on our way to Twelve the week before is now gone, replaced by the old feeling of alliance we had during the rebellion. He leads Peeta, Haymitch and I off the landing platform for all hovercrafts and through the streets of District Thirteen. Much had changed since the rebellion. It was no longer a residential district but the center of warfare and defensive training. It has special schools for kids from other districts to go to if they want to be Peacekeepers or soldiers. If the hunger games were still in existence, all of the kids from the wealthy districts would be going to these schools because they could actually afford to go there.

After people began moving to different districts, all of the residents of Thirteen left and scattered throughout Panem. President Paylor was smart enough to not let the land go to waste and make it into the headquarters for the military. District Two eventually lost popularity and became the center for manufacturing the weapons and supplies for the military. Paylor spent trillions of dollars on the rebuilding of Thirteen to make it livable for full-time soldiers and their families but other than those people and government officials, citizens were strictly forbidden within the boundaries. Of course there were a few exceptions, such as Peeta, Haymitch, Johanna and I but we never really stopped being soldiers.

The buildings are all pristine and welcoming, but not out-of-this-world like buildings in the Capitol. Due to the lack of regular citizens, Peeta and I are able to walk down the street without being hounded by rebels and reporters. There is no town square like the other districts because there is no need for a justice building. There is a small section that contains all of the shops where you can go to get food but it is not even like the shops in Twelve. The building we are walking toward is the main headquarters for the military. This is where Peeta and I have almost always gone to whenever we had been in Thirteen because we would only be there for a meeting.

Peeta holds my hand tightly and I can feel his sweaty palms. "Plutarch," he begins, "aren't we in danger here? I mean, the Capitol has turned against us and now we are walking straight into the heart of their military." He says exactly what I'm thinking.

"Well, the Capitol army itself has nothing against you two. It is only Onyx that has the problem with you. The soldiers won't do anything to you without being threatened by the president personally; you are too incredible to them. Before the Games Onyx had to give them direct orders for them to even consider hurting you. Thanks to your stunning performance in the arena this last time though, soldiers cringe at the slightest thought of touching you." Plutarch explained. "Either way, Onyx had all of her soldiers moved to the Capitol. He's already tried to cut off our supplies from Two but we won all of those battles. Notice how empty it is now. Our army has been divided into two separate armies and are being trained to fight against each other."

I look around and I do realize the lack of military personnel wandering on the streets. Haymitch looks at both Peeta and me and we stiffen, knowing just what his look means: stay on guard, we don't know who are allies really are.

When we arrive in the main building we step onto the elevators and go up to the twentieth floor where all of our meetings are usually held. The first person we see when we walk in to the conference room is Effie Trinket. She's bouncing in one of the chairs, anxious for the meeting to start. She is also the only other person in the room aside from us. But not for long because a couple seconds after we arrive another two people arrive; Sonya and Sophia. They are both chattering enthusiastically in the strange language I head when we were in Spain.

As all of the leaders in the military come in and circle around the table, Plutarch introduces us and points us to our seats at the end of the table. He briefs everyone around the table and then asks for questions. I raise my hand. "We must have the advantage though. I mean, the Capitol army doesn't know about this outside attacker, right?"

"Of course not. Excellent point Katniss." He says, nodding at me. Peeta smiles proudly and elbows me. "The Capitol will be taken totally by surprise when this other army arrives."

"So what you're saying is that we are going to try to hold off our fight against the Capitol until this other army attacks?" Haymitch asks.

Plutarch hesitates. "We will try our best to delay. The only problem is that this other army has made it clear that they are after Katniss so the Capitol will only distract them. Their true target will be our army."

"Then how are we going to protect Katniss?" Peeta asks. Always the protector. "They know that she is in our army so they will go straight for the front line and work from there."

Plutarch pauses again, choosing his words carefully. Finally he shrugs. "We haven't worked that out yet Peeta."

"We're running out of time though." He says, starting to panic.

I grip his hand under the table, trying to calm him by rubbing circles across the back of his hand with my thumb. A plan is starting to formulate in my head, not much different from the one I was part of during the rebellion where I was in the Star Squad. There is a lengthy conversation about tactics that I don't pay attention to. Peeta is slumped down in his chair, probably trying to think of some desperate plan to save me. Finally I speak, cutting someone off. "What if I don't fight for this army?"

Everyone around the table looks at me. "What?" Haymitch asks. "You mean you won't fight at all? You'll just sit at home knitting while your husband and what's left of your best friends fight to the death for you?"

"No." I shake my head. "I'll disguise myself and fight for the Capitol."

There is a silence as everyone takes this in. Johanna walks in and sits down at the end of the table, bowing her head and trying to hide her embarrassment at being late to this crucial meeting. Sonya speaks up. "You better have a helluva good disguise then."

Sophia nods in agreement. Effie confirms the problem with that plan. "This is the summer time Katniss. Hottest time of the year. You can't exactly walk around the Capitol in fur cloaks and scarves wrapped around your heads like you did in the rebellion. You'll be lucky if you can walk around with any clothes on at all." Peeta stiffens next to me and cocks an eyebrow at her and what she is implying.

"I'm going with you." He immediately announces.

"Absolutely not. It's too dangerous." I refuse. When he opens his mouth to challenge me I say, "You have to stay and fight here. You and I are kind of a package deal these days. If someone recognizes either of us, people will know that the other is around. We'll be done. Game over."

The room gets quiet again. Then Johanna speaks. "I could disguise myself as Katniss and fight here for her. Then she could go to the Capitol disguised as me. Everyone thinks I'm dead."

Plutarch nods enthusiastically. "Yes! Johanna, you are a genius!" he exclaims. She bows her head again and blushes. "As awful as this plan seems now, it could work."

"I still don't like it." Peeta says.

Haymitch nods. "Yeah, I'm sorry Katniss. There are just too many things that could go wrong."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing that neither of you are in charge here." Plutarch snaps. Peeta looks at Haymitch with a steely gaze and Haymitch nods once. Peeta looks over at me and releases his hand from mine. I don't return Peeta's gaze because I know that the instant I look at him my resolve will crumble and I'll admit that my plan is crazy. Because it is. It will be among the most insane things I ever do but I will save my friends, so it must count for something.

When Peeta and I get to our sleeping quarters in Thirteen that night I sit on the edge of our bed as he brushes his teeth in the bathroom. "You can't be mad at me for this."

Peeta laughs darkly. "I think I can be, actually."

I stand up and walk to where my duffel bag is sitting and pull out a pair of sweat pants and a hoodie. I strip down while saying, "You owe it to me to not be angry." He stands in the bathroom, leaning against the counter and gathering his thoughts for a while.

Finally he came in and sat on the bed, watching me change and asking, "How do you figure that?"

"Because you dodged a major bullet with me. Have you forgotten already about you lying to me about me being pregnant? Do you know how much you hurt me?" I ask, not looking at him. "So yeah, you owe me one."

He sighs. "That's different. I was doing that to save our lives. Now you're just throwing your life away like it's nothing when really, my life is tied to yours so you have to stay alive."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I say, walking to the bathroom and pulling out my own toothbrush.

"Listen, Katniss," he says, "it was Haymitch's idea. He thought that maybe if we could lie about it again you would be less willing to die for me in the arena. We could get you out of there alive." He pauses and thinks over his words. "Huh. But you two double-crossed me so really, _you _owe _me._"

I spit my toothpaste out and look at him, sitting on the bed looking innocent and smug. "Why do you always twist it around to make it my fault? You lied to me first!" I exclaim, walking into the bedroom. "Peeta, you really hurt me. I just told you that. You made me think that there was a life inside of me when there really wasn't!"

"Why are you so upset? I thought you didn't want kids for a while." He says calmly, leaning against the headboard and flipping through a magazine.

I pluck it out of his hands and say, "Here's an idea." I preface. "We blame Haymitch. Since it was his idea. I'll still be pissed at you for lying to me and you can be pissed at me for formulating this crazy plan but this is all Haymitch's fault, really."

"Touché." Peeta agrees. "So I really don't get a say in this plan?"

I shake my head and sit on the bed next to him. "You really don't. I'll be okay. I promise you that much. But you have to promise me that if you hear anything about me being dead, you don't do anything suicidal until you see for yourself."

"Of course not." He says. He looks at me with sincerity. "I really am sorry. I thought it was best."

I nod. "Yeah. I guess I'll forgive you at some point." I laugh. He laughs with me and grabs my arms, pulling me down to lie next to him.

He smiles into my eyes. "Real or not real: you love me."

"Totally, completely, inexplicably, not-a-doubt-in-my-mind real." I answer without any hesitation. I press my mouth against his and allow hunger to consume me.

**That chapter was a lot longer than I intended it to be. Maybe that's why it took me so long to write. Please review. Unfortunately, I'm only about halfway through this book. I have so much more in store for you guys. So please review.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey, so I'm apologizing in advance for how long it took me to post this chapter. I know now, before even typing this chapter, that it will be a while because I have so much planned for it. I'm skipping ahead a couple days…but you'll figure that out eventually.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

**P.S. I'll be changing the summary of this. The title will stay the same but just in case you are looking for this book and the summary is different you'll know I've changed it. I just need to update the story line. I'll change it after I post this chapter.**

Real or not real: I can't breathe. Real. Real or not real: Peeta's dead. Unknown. Real or not real: I'm dead. I wish I could be. Rough hands throw me in a room totally covered in white tile. There is one drain in the center of room, probably for blood to run into so the bleached room isn't ruined. The people that threw me in here strip me of my Mockingjay suit. They take my arrows. They take my guns. They take all of my weapons. Then they take the nightlock. They take the pearl. They take the Holo. They take _everything._ Then one of them kicks me in the side of my head and take my consciousness too.

* * *

><p><em>30 Hours Before<em>

* * *

><p>Haymitch attaches a device to my ear that will allow me to hear him give orders. Portia finishes pinning my hair and slides the blonde wig onto my head. She pins that on too. Octavia is hard at work making up my face, trying to make me resemble Johanna who is on the other side of the room being done up to look like me. She looks over and winks, giving me a thumbs up. "You don't take this out for anything." Haymitch instructs. "It's painted to match your skin color for a reason." I nod. Beetee walks in, carrying guns, knives and my bow. He slides my sheath of arrows onto my back, attaching it tightly.<p>

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and remembering the night before that I had with Peeta. Haymitch interrupts my thoughts. "Now you know the plan. Stay incognito until you can find someone in charge to kill and steal everything they have on them, okay? Lucky for you this suit is black and they Capitol army is planning to attack at night." He walks over to a table they have set up in the corner of the room on the hovercraft. "This is from Peeta. He wanted to give it to you himself but he wanted you to have it right before you go into battle." He says, putting something in my hand. I look down and see the pearl that Peeta gave me during our second Games slung on a blue cord. "He says he hopes that the blue will remind you of him." Haymitch says, rolling his eyes and I know that Peeta told him to say that.

"Thank you." I say gratefully as I refrain from hugging him and put the necklace in the pocket located on the inside lining of my right boot.

A red light illuminates the room, telling us that we have arrived in the Capitol and that I'll be leaving the hovercraft in just a matter of minutes. I place all of my guns and knives carefully and accordingly. Haymitch looks at me seriously and grips my shoulders firmly in his hands. I look back at him, allowing a little bit of my fear to show. "Any advice?" I ask.

"Stay alive." He answers automatically. "Remember, Peeta is only good to us as long as you are breathing and out of danger of dying. He'll be in the control room with me and Beetee as soon as this other army attacks. Johanna will fake her death within the first few hours. Then Peeta will come back to us and we'll say he has died." He explains one last time. Something beeps and Haymitch looks at his pager. "Plutarch was just sent word that the first wave of rebels have infiltrated the Capitol. They'll be expecting you to be with them. They'll be surprised you're not there and then distracted with trying to find you from that point on. Little will they know that you are actually fighting with them." He wrenches open the door as we begin to descend over the Capitol.

"Katniss, wait!" Johanna cries. She comes toward me and presses a nightlock pill in my hand. "Just in case." She says, smiling wryly at me. "And, I'm sorry about the mess I caused with you and Peeta."

I shrug. "I've forgiven you for it. It's not fair for me to be upset with you after I screwed with Gale so much. Maybe if I hadn't been in the way you two would have had more time together."

"You can't blame yourself for anything that happened in my relationship with Gale. If it weren't for you we probably would have never met. And either way, the time I had with him was the best time in my life." She says sadly. "Now go kick some ass." She advises.

I step to the edge of the door to the hovercraft, getting ready to descend down. Haymitch pats me on the back. "One last thing Katniss: don't believe anything that they tell you if they ever find out you're there."

"Why not?" I ask.

"I can't say. We're out of time. It's time for you to go." He says. I'm about to press it more but he shoves me out of the hovercraft. I have enough time in the air to straighten myself before I land in a dark alley. My boots absorb the impact as I say, "God I hate him." After a quick and silent laugh, I get serious.

I crouch behind a large crate and take in the environment I am now in, like I do when I'm hunting. Gunfire in the distance, people running down the street a couple blocks away. Explosions a couple blocks away in the opposite direction. So the fighting is widespread. I start to wonder if the second wave of soldiers has attacked yet. I decide that the side of the battle where the explosions are would be the most likely place for me to find a wounded soldier to steal from. I was right. After sneaking down a couple alleys I find a dying captain that I don't need to kill to take his Holo and uniform. His uniform fits snugly over my suit and concealed my weapons. There was not much I could do to hide my bow but I tried my best. As another violent explosion shook the earth I ran in the opposite direction toward the sound of the gunfire.

After I run about two blocks I run into the third wave of Capitol soldiers. I melt fluidly into the group of thirty soldiers or so and know that Haymitch has timed my arrival perfectly; these people all have bows and arrows too. They are all similar to mine in an eerie way but mine is still superior. It hums in my hand as I run with these stranger soldiers. Within minutes we start having to jump over bodies littering the streets and then we reach the heart of the battle. Everyone in my group split off and head to different fire escapes and start climbing to the roofs of the tall buildings. Some rebel soldiers notice this and start shooting at us. I push a button on my bow and the secret rebel logo becomes a brilliant orange. Now the rebels know not to shoot me. I take my place on the roof, thanking Portia for tying the wig back from my face due to the strong winds.

"Okay Katniss," I hear Haymitch say in my head, "We can see you on the roof top. Scratch your forehead if no one has recognized you from the Capitol." He orders. I bring my hand up to my forehead just as one of the soldiers behind me on the roof cries out. We all turn and see it at the same time; a dark cloud floating toward the Capitol.

As the cloud approaches I realize that it is not a cloud; it is a swarm of hovercrafts. I take a flare out of my suit and ignite it, sending it down over the side of the building. I light another and attach it to one of my bows, sending it out over the city. This is my signal to the rebels to prepare for invasion. I get a brief sight of the flare turning into the shape of a beautiful, fiery mockingjay when someone grabs my shoulder and spins me around to face them. I begin to panic because he has obviously recognized me and according to Haymitch, this different army wasn't supposed to invade for hours. "I can explain." I say quickly.

"What are you doing here?" he growls.

I look around at the other rooftops where the other Capitol soldiers are sending arrows down onto their own soldiers; they haven't realized that the rebels have retreated. I see men and women that I've known for the last five years slowly, one-by-one, run out of the battle and crouch in an alley behind a trash bin or just run away. "I was sent here." I say nonchalantly, sending a knife straight into the soldier's chest. The other soldiers haven't noticed and I send his body flying over the edge of the building before any of them do. All of the other soldiers are loading their guns and bows, preparing to shoot down as many hovercrafts as possible.

As I start to do the same, something from the rooftop across the street from me catches me. A woman being held on the edge of the roof, her limbs tied together and hands and feet bound. Her mouth has tape over it. Someone has a gun trained on her head. Another soldier kicks her in the back, making her bow down closer to the street. "Haymitch." I whisper, my voice light as wind.

"Stay focused on your mission Katniss. We'll take care of it later." He says seriously.

The soldier kicks her again in the side, knocking her over completely. She's only inches from the edge. "We don't have later." I say, not being able to pull my eyes away. It's like watching the elevators in Twelve after a mining accident, waiting to see if your loved one is going to come up safely.

Then something extraordinary happens. The woman lifts her head and looks up at the soldiers, turning her face away from me. Her long braid slides around on her back. Then she looks at the edge of the building, down onto the street. She looks around the rooftops, studying each one carefully. Then she sees the one I am on and her eyes make contact with me. They are eyes I would know anywhere. Eyes that I saw everyday in the Seam before the rebellion. Eyes that are copied perfectly into my own face.

Haymitch sees this too.

"No! Katniss! Stick to the plan!" he shouts in my ear as I shift the angle of my bow, away from the approaching hovercraft and toward the soldiers that were beating the woman. I shoot two arrows, both taking down the soldiers and injuring another one. The hovercrafts are now above me and people are dropping down out of them. But I have to get to the other building. Bullets fire down to the street and roofs like hail. I take this moment of utter chaos as my only chance to rescue the one thing that matters most to me. More than my life. More than my mission. More than saving Panem. And most shocking of all, more than Peeta. I wind up and through my rope to string across the street and jump off the roof, saving these few seconds of weightlessness before I crash onto the roof. I somersault out of my flight and kneel next to the woman. I take a knife and start undoing her binds.

"Katniss, is that you?" she asks breathlessly.

I nod, choking back tears. In my ear, Haymitch is shouting expletives at me. "Yes Mom." I answer.

**Duh…duh…duh! Review please. I promise explanations are coming soon. And yeah, I shortened this chapter a little bit to break all of the action up.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	21. Chapter 21

Everything around me seems to fade away as I stare into the watery eyes of my mother. She looks up at me and says, "I thought you were dead." I am taken aback by her words. "But I always hoped…I knew you'd make contact with me in some way." She finishes.

A loud explosion close by that knocks us toward the edge reawakens my senses. "I have to get you out of here. Can you walk?" I know that running is out of the question but I have limited time to get her to safety before the plan gets too far behind schedule.

"I can try." She offers. I grip her by under her arm and glance to the sky. Bullets are raining down about two blocks away, then there are what looks to be torpedoes made for the sky a few blocks away in the other direction.

"Don't look up." I instruct her and half-guide, half-drag to the door located on the other side of the roof.

Haymitch's voice interrupts my thoughts again. "Okay, thought I'm not happy with your decision I'll help you out of this. This is an apartment building, that door takes you down into the emergency stairwell. Get down to the bottom level and there will be another door that will take you underground. We'll take it from there."

I follow his instructions with as much speed as I can manage with my mom. She's fading fast and I need to get her help from a healer with more experience than me before she gets to be too far gone. "Mom, inventory." I say to her as we're going down the steps. It's a kind of short hand that we developed in a dire health situation for her patients.

"I'm lightheaded, my ankle is sprained, if not broken. I have a laceration on my scalp that will probably need stitches. And I'm a little queasy." She says. _I_ _can't imagine why_, I think sarcastically.

"I'll get you some help. Don't worry." I assure her. We reach the last landing and I say, "Just a little bit farther. I promise." Haymitch has stayed quiet. When I finally wrench open the door I wait for further instruction. I don't need any though. I hear pounding boots down the tunnel and look in the direction of the sound, seeing troops turn the corner and run toward us. They take my mother out of my arms and put her onto a back board. "No! I want to help her! Where are you taking her?" I scream. Arms grab me and slam me against the slimy wall of the tunnel. They hold me there securely and someone keeps yelling my name. Then I look at the person holding me. "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you don't do anything else stupid!" Peeta yells at me. "Now come on, we need to get back out there!"

My head is swirling at the shock of seeing him. "She's my mother Peeta! I thought she was dead! What if you saw your mother? Wouldn't you save her too?"

"I understand Katniss but we have a carefully laid out plan that we now need to clean up because you threw it to Hell!" he yells.

"Why are you so upset?" I ask him. But then the pieces start to fit together. "You…you knew! You knew she is alive, didn't you? All along?" I accuse.

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous." He releases me and I notice that we are alone once again. "Now let's go." He grabs my arm and pulls me back toward the door.

As he leads me back into the war I start to wonder what Haymitch was thinking, sending Peeta in to help me. Doesn't he know that this could ruin the plan? Of course he knows, but he's never cared about the possible negative outcomes. He has a contingency plan for everything.

Peeta takes me through the tunnels and motions to a ladder. I start to climb and then look down at him where he is standing at the bottom. "You're leaving now, aren't you?" I ask.

He nods and frowns. "Please stay safe." He pleads.

I smile grimly at him and wave a hand, climbing up into the street. I slide the tile back into place and look around, taking in my surroundings. Wow. Peeta has lead me to the exact place I am supposed to be. If I had gone straight back to the war and tried to get here from there it would have taken me an hour at least. I activate the Holo and proceed down the street with extreme caution. The rebels are succeeding in pushing both armies away from the President's Mansion. Luckily, because of the deteriorating Capitol army there is no security patrolling the perimeter of the mansion.

"Okay Katniss," Haymitch says, "here's what you do: walk in the front door."

I stop in my tracks, already surprised that I can walk through the City Circle, but through the front door of the President's Mansion? How can that be possible? "What?" I ask him.

"Listen, and trust. There are no guards inside the front hallway. The president has been moved away from the Capitol." He informs me.

"What? Where'd he go?" I do an about-face but Haymitch says my name.

"We have people tracking him. He got out right under our noses." There's a shout in the background but he obviously ignores it. "Now get back to the plan. Go on. Turn around and walk—no, don't! Don't go inside!" he suddenly shouts, making me cringe.

I train my eyes on the front door of the mansion and the front windows but I don't see anything. "What…why?" I ask, confused.

"Katniss, get out of there now! Go!" Plutarch suddenly commands in my ear.

I don't have to be told twice. I run down a side street and into an alley. "What's going on?" I demand.

"Johanna is dead." Haymitch tells me.

"They figured out that she was an imposter and they are going straight back to the mansion." Plutarch explains further.

I stop running, realizing that I'm going in the opposite direction I should be running…but it's too late. I can already hear their pounding footsteps. "What do I do?" I demand frantically.

"Find somewhere to hide!" Plutarch orders.

"Raise Hell." Haymitch says nonchalantly.

Taking a quick glance down to the Holo, I notice that there is a pod about one hundred feet in front of me that I can easily set off. But that can only be a distraction. Unless… "No problem." I say, drawing an arrow back and keeping my eyes glued on the end of the alley in the far distance. When the soldiers are close enough that I can separate them from each other and they don't look like a big blob I release the string, sending the arrow straight to the pod. I don't even stick around to watch the pod activate, I'm already running. There is an earth-shattering _BOOM!_ that knocks me down and I can only think about how far away I am and how that would have been had I been right next to it.

I sprint down another alley that seems familiar. There is a neon pink sign flickering in one of the windows that catches my attention. It's about fifty feet away. The curtains are drawn and I suddenly have my own kind of flashback. A bloody neck. Rusty water. Stone walls. Bloody wrists. Canned food. A tense hug. A revealing conversation. Soft furs. Warm…furs. Furs. Furs!

I'm so caught up in my own head that I run past the shop. Luckily Tigris reaches out her hand and catches me by the elbow and wrenches me inside. She slams the door shut behind her and locks it tightly. She runs to the window and peeks through the curtains and then spins around and faces me, collapsing against the wall. "Thank you." I breathe out.

She nods and waves her hand at me. "Plutarch called. Said there's been a change of plan."

"Which is…?" I prompt.

"Stay here." She says.

At the same time Haymitch says, "Stay there." He pauses as I take it in. "Katniss, listen to my next instructions very carefully. This communication device is no longer safe to use. People could be listening in right now. Just know that you've performed well beyond our expectations and we are proud of you."

"Haymitch…are you saying goodbye to me? Do you think you're going to die?" I ask. He doesn't answer. I understand. "I'm going to die." There's no doubt. He's only put me in this tiny shop to make sure he gets his final goodbye with me.

When he speaks again his voice is thick. "We'll see if we can get to you when this is over. Oh, make sure Tigris can't hear you." I glance at her quickly and walk down the small hallway to the back storage room. I sit down on the floor underneath a rack of fur coats that cover my face and much of my torso so my voice will be muffled. "There are no guarantees though."

"I know." I say sadly. "Haymitch, thank you. At first you were my mentor but now you're so much more. You're almost like my second father." I confess.

"Katniss, please don't." he warns darkly.

"No, let me finish. You have helped me through so much. You're the only person in this world that knows me fully. You know exactly how I think and how I act in different situations." I tell him wholeheartedly.

There's a long pause and I start to worry that I've lost the connection. Finally he says, "Listen kid, changed my mind, I'm not gonna let you die just yet. Peeta is still out there and I'm keeping you alive for his sake…and partially my personal hidden agenda for you. Here's what you do: find something hard and shatter this earpiece."

I locate a small loom on the floor across the room from me. "Then what?"

"Stay alive." He instructs and I can hear the smile in his voice. "Listen and trust." He adds and I know that there is nothing else to be said. I wrench my earpiece out and set it on the floor. I take the loom and lift it, taking one last look at my only connection to my loved ones and then throw it down, cringing at the crunching sound. Tigris comes running into the room and stares at the loom.

"What are you doing?" she asks quietly.

I look over at her. "What I was told to do." I say vaguely and walk back to the rack of furs and sit down in the same place, feeling very much alone.

**That's it for this chapter. Please review.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

**P.S. find me on Tumblr. My blog name is **_**The Totally Real and Fearful Perspective of Life. **_**My first blog post will explain what it's all about. Please participate!**


	22. Chapter 22

_A ship in port is safe. But that's not what ships are built for._

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><p>Time seems to stretch on as I hide in the shop with Tigris. There is no way to communicate, no way to fight, no way to know what the next move is. Tigris has a little radio that sits on the counter at all times, playing a static-filled news channel that reports deaths, which army is currently winning, and the progress on the search for me. A large amount of money is looming over my forehead and a couple hours after I arrive soldiers come to the store to give Tigris a Wanted poster for her to hang in her window. I huddled in the back room in the coats, terrified that they also had a search warrant.<p>

So I sit and wait for any possible news that could change my reason for staying here. Peeta dying, for example…there's no way they would kill him and keep it quiet. Finally, after about twenty-four hours of hiding and eating canned meat Tigris comes into the back room. With her are a couple of rebel soldiers. "Katniss Mellark. We've been sent to retrieve you from Haymitch."

I don't move from my position on the floor. I have never seen the soldiers before yet they are dressed as rebels. "Are you sure?" I ask them.

"He said you'd be difficult." One of the soldiers laughs.

Something still seems wrong. Then it dawns on me. "You said Haymitch sent you. What about Peeta? Isn't he supposed to be in charge of communications now?" I challenge them. "Is he okay?" Panic starts to set in.

"Of course. Here, we'll let him to you himself." The other soldier says, taking out his earpiece and handing it to me.

I hold it against my ear and sure enough, I hear Peeta's voice. "Katniss. Go with them. Don't tell them anything though." He warns me. This is all I need to go be reassured. I stand up and hand the earpiece back to the soldier. He smiles at me and motions for me to leave.

"Can I have my bow, please?" I ask them, turning just in time to see one of the soldiers send one of my arrows through Tigris's heart. "NO! What did you do?" I yell. The pieces start to come together though.

The soldier that killed Tigris smiles wickedly at me. "It had to be done, sweetie." He says sweetly.

I shake my head and say, "Why?"

"Because she has committed an act of treason against the Capitol." The other soldier explains, walking toward me slowly. More like stalking actually.

There is no time to waste. I do an about-face and run for the door, wrenching it open and sprinting out on to the street. I run past trash cans, my hand searching my uniform for any weapons but I realize too late that I left all of them in the shop. Using my only weapons around me, I tip trash cans and flower pots over as I run past them, hoping to make it more difficult for the soldiers to chase me.

The only bad thing about this alley is that there are only two ways to get in. The shop is closer to the end that leads to the Capitol. The way I took is much longer; approximately two hundred yards. Just when I'm about fifty yards from the end I see more Capitol soldiers turn the corner and start running toward me. I jump up and grab hold of a balcony railing and pull myself up. Gunfire rips out in the alley, drowning out the gunfire in the far distance. I huddle against the glass door until there are so many holes in it I can kick it down.

Once I'm in the apartment I spare no time in running to the front door and out into the hallway. I find the emergency stairwell and run up to the roof. When I burst through the door I see an arrow fly through the arrow and morph into a beautiful orange mockingjay. This is my signal from Haymitch. A hovercraft appears in the distance, flying toward me. When it is directly above me the ladder drops down and I jump on.

Then shit really hits the fan, so to speak. The first thing I see is Plutarch, but his face is unhappy. Then I notice the way he's sitting and realize that he is not here to welcome me; he is here as a hostage. Then I see Haymitch, also tied up and looking sick. Next to Haymitch is Peeta, looking at me with guilt in his eyes. "Katniss, I'm so sorry—" he begins but a soldier hits him in the head with the butt of his gun.

"I said you are to be silent. If that is too difficult for you, we can silence you permanently." The soldier growls.

Soldiers grab me under the arms and handcuff me. "Sorry folks. Show is over." I hear Onyx's voice. I can't see him anywhere in the cabin but his voice sounded like it was right next to me. The soldiers holding me drag me away and the last thing I see before I'm taken from the room are soldiers point their guns directly at Peeta's heart. I close my eyes and my pounding heart drowns out any potential sound of a gun shot. My thoughts get jumbled together so I go back to the game I played with Peeta to clear them.

Real or not real: I can't breathe. Real. Real or not real: Peeta's dead. Unknown. Real or not real: I'm dead. I wish I could be. Rough hands throw me in a room totally covered in white tile. There is one drain in the center of room, probably for blood to run into so the bleached room isn't ruined. The people that threw me in here strip me of my Mockingjay suit. They take my arrows. They take my guns. They take all of my weapons. Then they take the nightlock. They take the pearl. They take the Holo. They take _everything._ Then one of them kicks me in the side of my head and take my consciousness too.

The sound of screaming brings me back to reality. I'm laying in something wet. A reddish-brown color. Something flaky is lying all around me and I open my eyes. Light is twinkling above me. It's spotty. Like sunlight streaming through trees in the woods. Oh, that must be where I am. The woods. Then why do I hear screaming? It hurts my ears. I close my eyes, trying to block it out but the screaming only gets louder. It's blood-curdling…and horribly familiar. I stand up and shaky legs and look around me. The woods are bright and alive. The colors are so vibrant. I know I'm not dead. I've been dead before but I have never seen colors so brilliant. They dance in my mind.

Then I see her. My mother. She's writing on the ground, screaming unintelligible words and mumblings. I pick out my name occasionally. There's a soldier standing over her and whips her hard across the face. "Mom!" I yell. But she doesn't seem to hear me. The soldier takes his gun and points it to her heart. The gunshot drowns out my scream. I want to move toward her, to help her, but as I see the life draining from her face I know I'm too late. And I can't move. Suddenly I'm shackled to a tree, the cold metal cuffs digging into my wrists, making them bleed. The tree behind me is smooth and I look down and see I'm not standing on mud and leaves, but on clean white tiles spattered with drying blood and chunks of my mother's hair.

I'm no longer in the woods. I'm trapped in a nightmare. I look across the garish room and see Peeta sitting against the tiled wall opposite me with his face between his knees. His shoulders are shaking. He's crying. Why is he crying? Then I see the streaks of blood leading the body of my mother being dragged from the room. "Mom?" I whisper hoarsely.

Peeta's head snaps up and soldiers notice that I'm awake. He looks at me with terror in his face and I realize that I shouldn't have spoken. He shakes his head at me and mouths, 'I love you' to me before a soldier comes to me and punches me in the face, knocking me unconscious.

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><p><strong>I know, that was a pretty short chapter. But I'm a little low on time right now. I've decided that there is no need for an author's note at both the beginning and end of a chapter so I'm going to start putting quotes at the beginning, in case you couldn't tell. Please review. I'll love you forever.<strong>

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	23. Chapter 23

_Add life to your days, not days to your life. Add cupcakes to your everything._

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><p>Time is meaningless as my body is ruled by searing emotional and physical pain. I have given up any hope of being rescued. There is no one to rescue us. Not when Plutarch, Haymitch, Peeta and I are all locked in here as prisoners. I watch hour after hour of Plutarch and Haymitch being tortured and I realize that what Johanna said to me when we were in District 13 is true; we all recognized each other's screams. So when you close your eyes and don't watch who is taken next you still know who is being tortured. I wait patiently to be tortured, trying to shut myself out of the world and focus on Peeta's face across the room from me but eventually he bows his head and enters some sort of trance.<p>

They don't torture me physically like they do with Haymitch and Plutarch though. Instead they insert an IV and fill it with some liquid that causes pain to every inch of my body. It's in me; there's nothing to do about it.

They don't torture Peeta at all. They know that watching us writhe in pain and scream for salvation is torturous enough for him. So he sits and watches it all. Sometimes I notice him having flashbacks; it's becoming frequent now that memories have been reawakened. I hate when Peeta looks up at me and he is sane because I only see regret in his eyes. Plutarch and Haymitch were probably questioning why Peeta gave in so easily because they both know that he would die before he let anything happen to me. The truth is that Peeta knows that the more he had resisted, more harm would come to me. Only I would understand that because if it were me in the same position, Haymitch and Plutarch would think the same thing about me and I would do the same thing as Peeta.

Sleep is not an option. This liquid is like fire that licks through my veins and sometimes is strong enough to shorten my breath. Then I start screaming. My careful control to remain calm when I had first started receiving the pain stuff is broken, shattered to pieces and I start screaming and trying to find a way to get rid of the IV. But it's useless. My arm is bolted to the wall. There is no way for me to reach it. And poor Peeta has to watch me struggle. Just when I start to accept the sad truth that I will be locked in this cell forever the pain stops. I feel nothing. First I start to worry that I'm dead but I realize that would be pointless.

A couple of guards walk in and pick me up, unhooking the IV. One carries me out and my mind finally registers what is going on. "Peeta…" I mumble, arching my neck so I can look back and maybe see him but he is not there. "No…no…" I cry softly, fighting weakly against the guard holding me. But he is just so strong. I can't do it. I look at the white ceiling tiles above me as they carry me who-knows-where when suddenly the tiles change to gray concrete and then...the sky? No, it can't be. _Where are they taking me now_? I think miserably.

They lay me gently on the floor of the small hovercraft and I move my head to the side and see Peeta being set down next to me. "Oh Katniss." He breathes, and as soon as he is free he crawls to me and cradles my body in his lap. "It's okay. We're going home. You'll be okay." He promises as I watch Plutarch and Haymitch also be carried into the hovercraft. One of the soldiers slides the door shuts with a loud bang and I feel the hovercraft start to move. Peeta continues to hold me as we go somewhere…I still haven't figured that part out yet. Nothing is making sense. Why would they move us _away_ from the Capitol?

"Peeta…" I moan miserably, feeling incredibly weak and lightheaded. Why do Haymitch and Plutarch seem perfectly fine? They are sitting on the floor with us but they are whispering to each other quietly. They look weak but they are still in better shape than me.

Peeta runs his hands up and down my arms. "It's okay Katniss. You'll be okay. Just go to sleep." He instructed, his lips brushing my ear.

Sleep? Sleep seems impossible to me because when I sleep, I am haunted. So instead I say, "Peeta…my mom…"

He looks down at me with sad eyes. "There was nothing I could do. I'm so sorry. You had just gotten her back…"

As scared as I am to sleep, my eyes start drifting shut. "Peeta, I feel so sick." I tell him.

"I know. Just rest. I love you." He whispered, touching his lips to my forehead.

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><p>When I wake up, I'm in my bed back at District Twelve. I can hear Peeta talking to someone downstairs, so I crawl out of bed and creep down the steps, stopping just out of their view.<p>

"I can't thank you enough, for all that you've done." Peeta says.

Someone laughs. A deep laugh. A man. "By this time, Peeta, I consider it my responsibility to keep you two alive."

Peeta chuckles. "And you're unsure of how she'll be when she wakes back up?" he asked, suddenly serious again.

"No. I'm sure she'll be okay though. Maybe a little traumatized but honestly, after what both of you have been through I'd be surprised if anything really traumatized you to the point of insanity. Katniss is an incredible young woman; I have no doubt that she'll be back to her normal self in a matter of days." The man says. His voice sounds familiar.

Peeta sighs. "How'd you find us anyway?"

"I have connections in the Capitol Peeta. Don't you know that by now?" he paused. "Anyway, when the rebels got the armies under control and were obviously going to win, it was easy for me to give the security officers in those facilities some pain medication and get your location out of them. After that it was a simple matter of finding soldiers to retrieve you all."

"Well we're lucky you intervened when you did. The soldiers started talking about hijacking Katniss." Peeta tells him.

"Even if they had, we'd get her back. We've done it before. At least, I have." Dr. Aurelius. That's who it was. "Now, we need to discuss Johanna."

There is a long silence as I hold my breath, waiting for Peeta's answer. "Just bury her somewhere. She betrayed all of us. She was a traitor all along and I should have seen that."

"No one could have anticipated her turning her back on you all." The doctor assures Peeta.

"She's a Capitol puppet. I knew the first time I met her before the Quell that there was something off about her. Then she went all rebel, but that was just to get access to our plans. Of course the Capitol wanted to be thorough though, so in case she were to fail to get into the battle they hijacked me. Then Onyx threw her into the last Games to win back my trust, which she failed at. So they made her fake her own death, just so we'd think she's gone. Then she'd turn out to be alive. I tried to get her secrets out of her through flattery but that obviously didn't work. That just pushed her plans along by her telling Katniss that she wasn't really pregnant. And then Katniss got mad at me so I explained everything to her on the way to Spain and she played along with the scheme. Her performance was spectacular, but everything went to Hell after that." Peeta tells Dr. Aurelius.

"Figured that out on your own?" he asks.

There's another pause. "Haymitch helped." Peeta explains simply.

Dr. Aurelius sighs. There's the sound of ceramic scraping wood. They must be drinking coffee. "I think it's time to check on your wife." I hear the scrape of his chair sliding back so I step out of the shadows and into clear view of Peeta.

"Katniss." He breathes. His eyes lock on mine instantly and I exhale for what feels like the first time in years.

"Peeta." I sigh in return and rush toward him, throwing my arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. He is hesitant to return the hug but I feel his arms wrap around my shoulders eventually. "I love you." I whisper into his shirt.

"I love you too." He whispers back, kissing the top of my head.

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><p><strong>Okay, I know that was way too short for the amount of time I've left you guys hanging. Things have just been crazy at school. I can sum it up in four words: I hate jealous bitches. They've been trying to break up this guy and me since homecoming and I think they've actually succeeded now.<strong>

**Anyway, I finally explained the whole Johanna thing.** **It's funny how one of the girls I'm dealing with right now is named Johanna. Ironic?...I think yes. I am going to skip ahead a few years but I'll explain in the next chapter. The action will kind of stop after this and you'll get a peek into what Peeta and Katniss's lives are like after all of this drama.**

**Please review. I'll love you dearly because right now you guys are like, my only friends.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	24. Chapter 24

_Fall in love or fall in hate. Get inspired or be depressed. Ace a test or flunk a test. Make babies or make art. Speak the truth or lie and cheat. Dance on tables of sit in the corner. Life is divine chaos. Embrace it. Forgive yourself. Breathe. And enjoy the ride…_

_-Audrey Hepburn_

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><p><em><strong>(AN: This is 12 years later and Peeta and Katniss have already had their two children; Jesse and Tyler. Jesse is eleven and Tyler is nine. Panem is still recovering from the war and as part of the recovery process, Peeta and Katniss help people that have been tortured recover.)<strong>_

"Okay." I say as I walk into the interrogation room. "Why are we here?" I ask Haymitch and Plutarch. They had called Peeta and I earlier that morning and asked us to fly to Thirteen where they had something for us to see. We arrive in a room built just like the one that I went to after Peeta was hijacked and Dilly tried to talk to him.

Plutarch hands me a manila folder with a stack of papers inside. I lay it down on the steel counter and flip through them with Peeta reading over my shoulder. "We've got someone for you two to talk to. We rescued him from the Capitol late last night." Plutarch informs us. "No one has seen him for months and we found him in the same torture chambers used for…for other people." He catches himself, changing his sentence before he mentions Peeta's time being tortured. But I don't think Peeta notices; he is so focused on what he's reading. "We have no idea what district he was originally born in. He hasn't talked at all since he's been here."

I nod and sigh. "Okay, let's make this fast though. I want to be home in time to make dinner for Jesse and Tyler." Peeta says, picking the folder up and heading for the door to the interrogation chamber.

Haymitch stands up and replies, "I'll call Greasy Sae and tell her to have something for them for when they get home." He walks over to the phone hanging on the wall and dials the number for his house as I follow Peeta into the interrogation room. It's dark except for the lamp that's sitting on the table that is in front of the young man. He looks no older than seventeen. He has brown hair and bright blue eyes. His eyes immediately pierce through me, ringing a faint bell in my mind. It isn't the color, it's the look behind them that make them familiar. I shake my head to clear it out and sit down in the empty chair. I lay the file out on the table in front of me and Peeta stands behind me with his hands tight on the back of my chair.

"Okay. It says here that your name is Charlie. Is that true?" I ask in a gentle voice.

The man shrugs and keeps his gaze level with mine.

"Were you born with that name?" I press.

He shakes his head quickly.

I breathe deeply. "Did the people here give you that name?" I ask.

He nods.

"Then what is your real name?" Peeta asks in the same gentle voice.

The man shrugs and shakes his head rapidly again.

"Can you talk?" I ask him.

He nods.

"Can you say something?" Peeta requests.

There is a long pause where the man doesn't say anything. Then he shocks us by saying, "White."

Peeta crouches down next to me so he and I can exchange glances. He nods to me and I say, "What about it?"

"I…like it. Not." He stutters. He is talking a lot like the way Rose and Tyler talked when they were learning how to. At least he was talking though.

"Why not?" I ask as Peeta takes out a pen and starts writing things down. Charlie looks at him and then back to me with scared eyes. "Don't worry. He isn't going to hurt you." I say calmly. "Now why don't you like white?"

Charlie bows his head and whispers, "The…room."

Peeta looks up at me with wide eyes and I sigh. We both understand that. Because we both have nightmares about that white room every night. Nightmares where we are stuck there for our whole lives, where maybe our loved ones are in the room being tortured right in front of us. Where we get tortured and beaten to death. "Can you tell us something else?" Peeta asks. "Where are you from?"

Charlie doesn't answer him. So I try. "Do you like the name Charlie?"

He shakes his head.

"Is there any name you do like?" I ask.

He hesitates, and then says. "Onyx."

Peeta stiffens. "What about Onyx?"

"He…dead." There is another pause and then Charlie gets tense and fights against his restraints. "They killed him! How could they do that?" he shouts.

"Get out of here." Peeta orders and I don't need to be told twice. I slam the folder shut and walk out so I can watch through the window as Peeta sits on the edge of the table that is closest to Charlie. I stand between Plutarch and Haymitch with the folder held close to my chest. "So tell me Charlie, why are you mad they killed Onyx?"

"Because the same people killed Snow." He says angrily. He isn't stuttering anymore. It's like he was taken over by something else. Like he was hijacked. The three of us realize this at the same time and Plutarch has his hand on the button to tell Peeta but I stop him.

"Let him handle this on his own. He already knows." I tell him. He shrugs and shakes his head, removing his hand from the button.

"Do you like Snow?" Peeta asks.

Charlie shakes his head. "No. He killed him."

"Who?"

"My father." Charlie says and then he bows his head and stops talking. Peeta sighs and leans back, folding his hands in front of him. He nods and walks out.

"What can you tell us?" Haymitch asks.

Peeta puts his hands in his back pockets and breathes deeply. "Well, he's definitely been hijacked, but not the same way that I was." He pauses. "But I don't know what else there could be. Amnesia could be possible or he could even be mentally disabled…"

"But we'd have to test that." I finish for him. I look at the clock on the wall and look at Plutarch and Haymitch. "We have to get home." I tell them. Peeta nods in agreement and takes our jackets from the closet and hands me mine. "Review the tapes tonight. Call us if you find anything." I say as we walk out of the room.

When we get home Jesse and Tyler are at the kitchen table doing their homework. "Mama, were you doing work?" Jesse asks when I walk over to kiss her forehead.

Peeta shoots me a cautious look from where he stands at the stove. "Yeah sweetie. But I'll be home tomorrow." I promise, giving Peeta a look. He sighs and shakes his head. "Did you guys learn anything in school today?"

"Do you have to ask that everyday?" Jesse asks quietly. Tyler rolls his bright blue eyes.

I laugh. "Yes Jesse; it's part of my job description."

"What's a job destrip…decisio…decriptsion…" Tyler asks quietly.

Peeta laughs out loud and I barely suppress my amusement. I throw a ball of crumbled paper at Peeta's head and hit my target perfectly. "You'll understand when you're older. And Jesse," I say as I notice her sneaking up the steps to her bedroom, "You still haven't answered my question."

"I learned that Tyler is better at math than me." She says begrudgingly. I look over at Tyler where he sits with a proud smile that is so much like Peeta's on his face. "Can I go play with my dolls now?" she asks.

I sigh. "Yes you may but dinner is in a half hour." I tell her as she starts running up the steps.

"You know, when I was growing up I would have never thought that any daughter of yours would have such an obsession with dolls." Peeta says smartly as he piles spices from the cupboard in his arms.

I roll my eyes and sit next to Tyler to help him with his homework. There's a loud crash and I spin towards the kitchen, seeing Peeta clutching onto the counter. "Tyler, go finish your homework in your room. I'll be up in a little while." He closes his book and grabs his backpack, running up the steps to his bedroom.

As I walk over to Peeta I grab a wet towel and stand a safe distance behind him. The muscles in his back are flexing in a disjointed rhythm and I can hear him panting as he fights off the attack. If the kids were at school I would tell him to just let it go, let the flashback consume him but if I do that now it would endanger their lives most definitely. Finally he stops shaking and takes deep breaths. After several minutes I move toward him and hand him the towel. "What was it?" I whisper.

"It was…it's never happened before like that." He whispers back, not turning to look at me. "I think…maybe, I don't know. I didn't recognize any of the images."

I stand there quietly, thinking for a while before saying, "What do you think it was?"

"I think…" he begins, finally turning to face me with scared eyes, "That I was seeing into the future."

**That's it for this chapter! I've had it written for a _really _long time, before I even wrote like, the last five chapters. And no, things have not improved as far as my social life goes in case you were wondering. If anything things have gotten worse. Review please.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	25. Chapter 25

"_They asked me what I'd like written about me when I'm gone. I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach." – Joe Paterno_

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><p>"Okay Peeta, just lie down here and put the ear buds in your ears and listen to the music while I run the test." Dr. Aurelius tells him. Peeta sits on stretcher in a hospital gown while I watch from a screening room. Dr. Aurelius walks back into the room to join me and sits down behind a computer.<p>

"Dr. Aurelius, I trust you fully but I'm really not sure about this test. It could set him off." I remind him, crossing my arms over my chest.

He turns and looks up at me as the stretcher that Peeta is lying on slides into the testing machine. "Actually Katniss, I'm hoping that's what happens. I need to see what occurs in his brain while he's having a fit. I still have the results from the first time I ran this test and I need to be able to compare them." He explains but his assurances do nothing to quash my worries.

After the test is complete Dr. Aurelius prints the results and tells me to go with Peeta while he changes so that the doctor can look them over in peace. I listen to him, following Peeta into the small bathroom next to the testing room to hold his clothes for him.

"I still don't understand why you felt the need to do this." He says to me. "I feel perfectly fine." He slides his pants on and waits for me to hand him his t-shirt.

I shake my head. "You saw the future Peeta. That isn't normal." I explain.

"Katniss, these fits aren't normal anyway. In my opinion, it doesn't matter whether I'm seeing the past, future or an alternate reality; it's just part of my life." He says, pulling his shirt and sweater over his head.

"Peeta, I'm only concerned about these different fits because we don't know exactly what they are. I just want to know if they are going to get worse or if they will stay mild like this because I don't want Jesse and Tyler to be put in danger." I see the hurt in his eyes as he immediately does the mental gymnastics that it is dangerous for him to just be around them and that he shouldn't be around them. "Peeta." I whisper, stepping toward him and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You are an amazing father. You don't see the way Tyler looks at you the way I do. If you were to ever…he'd be lost."

He smiles grimly at me. "Katniss, if I ever overstep the line of safety that we've drawn between me and our kids…please, just kill me. I'd rather die than hurt Jesse or Tyler, or even you." He pleads.

I shake my head. "Peeta, I trust you wholeheartedly. That day will never come. It will always be you and me. I promise."

He nods and holds the door open for me. "Let's go find out what's wrong with me this time." He tries to joke. I laugh darkly and step through the doorway and link my arm through his as we make our way to Dr. Aurelius's office.

When we enter he smiles at us. "Well, the good news is that there really isn't anything wrong with this. I think you'll be okay, just keep taking your medication and coming in for your checkups." He instructs Peeta and we are shortly on our way home.

As Peeta stands by the stove making yet another meal for dinner – as he does every night – I walk up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier." I whisper to him, resting my head between his shoulder blades. "About your being here is unsafe for the kids. I just…worry."

He laughs quietly. "You're a mom. It's your job to worry about superfluous things when it comes to your kids."

"Your kids too." I remind him. We stand there for a while before I say, "You know, they're still over Haymitch's. I think, that should take advantage of their not being here and enjoy each other's company."

He's quiet for a while. "If I'm understanding you correctly, then you're saying that we should tell Haymitch to keep the kids for a little while longer and we run upstairs and madly make love."

"Well, I wasn't going to throw it out there like that." I tell him. "But yes, you're correct. It's been a whole week." I start dragging my lips across his back and I feel his muscles stiffen and shudder.

"In that case…" he says, spinning in my arms and grabbing me by the waist, giving me the leverage I need to wrap my legs around him and allow him to carry me up the steps. "I don't think we need to call Haymitch." He grumbles as he kisses my neck.

I shake my head and wrap my hands in his hair as he takes me to our bedroom and throws me on to our bed.

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><p><strong>Wow. I know that was a really short chapter but A) I have school tomorrow and I need to get to bed ASAP and B) it is kind of a filler chapter so it's kind of supposed to be short. The next chapter I'm skipping ahead several years to when Jesse and Tyler are older and then drama will start again. I just needed to explain the whole Peeta seeing the future thing. Please review! <strong>

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	26. Chapter 26

_Men are like parking spaces: The good ones are taken and the other ones are left handicapped. – Anonymous_

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><p>(Six years later)<p>

I am woken up late one night by a scraping sound. I roll over on to my side and shake Peeta, his eyes flashing open instantly. I put a finger to my lips to tell him to be quiet as I swing my legs over the side of our bed and crack our door open. Peeta is following behind me, struggling to remain as quiet as me. Fortunately for me, my skill at concealing my footsteps has not faded over time but unfortunately for him, his skill at concealing his footsteps has not improved one bit. If anything, it's just gotten worse. When Jesse and Tyler were babies he tried his best to creep around the house when I was taking a nap or when the kids were taking naps but somehow his feet would always find the creaky floorboards.

But this is a different kind of creeping because when we would creep around the house when the kids were sleeping we knew that they were both asleep; now we know that one of them is awake and we both know exactly which one. When we walk out into the hallway we see Tyler poking his head out his door, one hand adjusting his glasses. Peeta and I don't need to say anything to him, he just nods and walks down the hallway to Jesse's room and opens the door. Peeta and I move to sit on either side of the door to listen to them.

"How's Marcus?" Tyler asks when he walks in her room.

There's a gasp followed by a slight hesitation. "Tyler, get out of here; you'll wake Mom and Dad." Jesse orders.

"You're lucky you haven't already. You can't keep doing this Jesse. Mom and Dad are such light sleepers that when you make as much noise as you did tonight they will wake up and catch you." He warns.

She laughs. "Please. They don't know a thing. Unless you have gone and snitched." She accused. "What were you doing awake this time of night anyway?" she asks. Tyler doesn't answer so she says, "Right. Overachiever…staying up late to do homework."

"Better than staying up late to sneak off with my girlfriend." He says scathingly.

She laughs again, this time it was more quipped. "Please Tyler, at least I have a boyfriend. You'll have to move to another district to find anyone that would date you." She tells him coolly. "Just because you're a Mellark doesn't mean girls will automatically like you."

"Shut up." Tyler whispers but she doesn't listen. Peeta and I look at each other, both thinking the same thing: their fights have never gone this far or gotten this personal. We'll have to intervene.

"You actually have to try a little. Get your nose out of those books and wear something other than t-shirts, get rid of the glasses, and maybe learn some social skills." She suggested.

Tyler huffed. "Shut up Jesse! I don't care that I don't have a girlfriend because unlike you I am actually using my time productively to study and make sure I can actually be useful in life later on. I am actually trying to live up to my name, unlike you. Do you not hear what people say about you in school?" he challenges.

Peeta and I both stand up and walk in the room simultaneously, standing in the doorway and assessing the situation. Jesse is standing by one of the windows in her room that is still open, the rain that is falling lightly outside splashing in and hitting her clock and bedside lamp. She is dressed in jeans, boots and the leather jacket I gave her not three weeks before for her birthday. Tyler is standing opposite her with his arms crossed, wearing his flannel pajama pants and t-shirt. His blonde is rumpled from him running his fingers through it while doing his homework.

"Nice going." Jesse says sarcastically to Tyler.

Peeta clears his throat. "You can't blame your brother for this. We've known for weeks."

"And we have both agreed that you can't see Marcus anymore." I finish for him.

Jesse stands there for a few seconds, gaping. "That's not fair! I never get to see him outside of school so when else should I be able to see him?" she demands.

"You could have invited him to dinner or to go hunting one day." I suggest.

"Great, quality time with the family. That's real cool Mom." She says, rolling her eyes. Tyler inconspicuously bows his head and walks out of the room.

I open my mouth to speak but Peeta cuts me off. "We'll finish this discussion tomorrow after school. And don't you dare be late coming home." He announces, putting an arm around my shoulders and guiding me back to our bedroom.

As we lay in bed that night, we both pondered what to tell Jesse. I had no idea what this meeting would be like and neither did Peeta. Neither of us had dealt with something like this before so how were we to know how to punish her? Our siblings had always been so well-behaved that we had never seen our parents punish them. Little did we know though, that the meeting would never happen.

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><p>The next day Peeta and I conference over a large lunch, trying to figure out what to do about our rebellious daughter. "Look, she likes Marcus. Maybe if we limit their relationship—" he begins but I cut him off.<p>

"She'd just sneak out again!" I exclaim, clutching my coffee mug tightly between my hands.

He's quiet for a while. Then he peers at me with a half-smile growing on his face. "We could bars on her windows." He suggests sarcastically.

"That'd be a lot funnier if I didn't have to actually consider that as one of my options." I tell him, offering a tiny smile of encouragement.

"Look, we'll figure this out. I have no doubt. This is just a phase, like when Tyler wanted to wear all of Jesse's clothes when he was six." He recalls. I laugh and roll my eyes. He reaches across the table and takes my hand in his. "I have all the faith in the world that she'll be okay when she's older. We didn't fail as parents; she failed as our daughter."

My eyes snap up and connect with his. "Peeta, I know how we can discipline her."

"No, Katniss. I know what you're thinking and we can not do that to her." He quickly declines.

I gasp. "Peeta, she's _our _daughter. She'd be great."

"Katniss, she played with dolls from the time she could pick them to junior high. She won't do it." He insists.

"But that doesn't mean anything. We can force her."

"We're not forcing her to do anything." He exclaims. "How hypocritical is it for us to earn freedom for our children and then take it away from them?" he asks angrily.

We're quiet for a while and finally the ticking of the clock in the corner invades my consciousness. "Where is she? They should be back by now."

"I asked Tyler to pick some things up for me in town. Maybe she went with him." Peeta tells me, taking my empty mug and his and putting them in the kitchen sink.

"But we told her not to be late." I mumble, looking out the back windows into the sunny forest. It would be the perfect day for hunting.

Peeta gives me an _Are you serious? _look but I ignore it. "Katniss, she knows she is in deep trouble as it is. There's no hurt in her breaking one more rule." He washes our mugs out and sets them back in the cabinet as Tyler walks in the front door with a paper bag in his arms. He's alone.

"Where's Jesse?" he asks, looking at me sitting at the kitchen table by myself with Peeta in the kitchen. "Did I miss the fireworks?" he attempts to joke.

Peeta narrows his gaze on him as he takes the paper bag. "You mean she isn't with you?"

"Nah. She said she was coming straight home; she didn't want to get in any more trouble." Tyler tells us.

I'm about to say _Told you so_ to Peeta but he cuts me off. "Save your breath." He orders to me. "When'd she say that she's coming home?"

"When I talked to her in the hallway after school. She said she was gonna cut through the woods so that she wouldn't be late." He says.

Peeta and I look at each other. "Thanks Tyler." He says, clapping him on the shoulder. "Go upstairs and get started on your homework." Tyler doesn't go though.

"There's something wrong, isn't there?" he asks.

"Tyler, do what your father tells you to do." I tell him, standing up from the table and walking to the closet to get my jacket and bow and arrows.

He shakes his head and sets his backpack on the floor. "No. You two think something has happened to her. I want to help look for her."

"Three's a crowd." Peeta mumbles.

I shoot him a death glare and kneel on the floor, keeping heavy eye contact on Tyler. "If you really want to help you will stay here and if she comes home call us right away. I'll go get Haymitch." I tell Peeta and stomp outside before Tyler can argue.

**Uh-oh. What happened to Jesse? Well keep reading to find out…you know, as soon as I post the next chapter which may either be a week from now or tomorrow. Depending on how much I want to procrastinate on homework. Review please! :D**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	27. Chapter 27

_We won't say our goodbyes; you know its better that way. We won't break, we won't die, it's just a moment of change. – One Republic_

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><p>Jesse approaches the dark storefront and tries to peer through the windows. She looks around herself and notices that people are looking at her, probably wondering what the heck she is doing. That's the downside of having the last name Mellark: people notice you and watch you like they're expecting you to do something amazing…or dangerous. She sighs and taps lightly on the front door. After rapping a couple more times the door swings open just enough for her to slide in and shut it without drawing too much attention.<p>

No one is in the room when she enters. It has been abandoned for a while; the owner died with no known family members and nobody wanted to take it over. There were some chairs and a table in the corner that were in the process of being eaten by termites or some other creature. The floorboards she stands on are creaky and have a thick layer of grime on them. Obviously no one felt the need to do any cleaning when the store closed. "Marcus?" she asks but there isn't an answer. She begins to wonder what kind of store it was when the floors behind her creak. She spins around and starts.

"God Marcus! Don't scare me like that!" she exclaims, shoving him lightly.

He laughs and hugs her tightly. "Sorry honey. You said we had to meet. What's up?" he asks.

She grasps his upper arms in her dainty hands and looks up into his brown eyes. "Let's get out of here." She muses. "Let's run away, go to another district. Escape from this world." She whispers, dragging her lips across the front of his coat.

"Jesse, we wouldn't make it five miles. And I don't want to get in trouble with your parents." He refuses.

"But come on, we only have what…six months of school left? That's more than enough time for us to plan our getaway." She tells him.

He chuckles. "What's with the sudden urge to run away from home?"

"My parents know about me sneaking out." She admits to him. His eyes fill with terror but she's quick to comfort him. "Don't worry, they don't know anything about you training me but I know that they're punishment is to put me on the first train out of here going to Thirteen."

He smiles grimly. "That wouldn't be so bad. I think you're ready. You've been doing amazing with the whole deception part of my curriculum; you'd make a great spy."

"Panem doesn't need spies." She mumbles. "Marcus, I don't want to go." She tells him.

He sighs. "Doesn't sound like you'll have much of a choice." He says. He opens his arms to her and embraces her warmly. They stand like that for a while. "Now I don't want to get you in any more trouble so go. You don't have to meet me tonight."

"Really?" she asks, excited to finally get a night off.

"Really. You did exceptionally yesterday. Jasper wasn't expecting you to pack such a punch I don't think." He jokes. She smiles and walks to the door but he calls her back. "Just out of curiosity, what would your parents think if they found out that you're spending your nights not with me but at an underground fight club?"

She laughs. "I don't think they'd believe it. Look at me. I'm the type of girl that loves to paint her nails and work on my tan on nice sunny days. I'm not the kind of girl to sneak out of my parent's house to go beat up on people." She tells him and then walks out of the store.

Luckily, by taking the shortcut through the woods behind the abandoned store she would make it home with maybe minutes to spare if she runs. She is soon overtaken by the dim green shadows as a light rain begins to fall. The ground is already muddy from the previous night's rain.

About halfway down the path she had cut for herself months ago, she hears a twig snap. The rain is falling harder now and the leaves are dumping big drops onto her head. She pulls her hood up over her perfectly styled hair and peers behind her into the dim light. She shakes her head and keeps walking down the path. About twenty feet further down the path she hears bushes being shaken by something brushing past them. She looks in the direction of the sound but can't make anything out in the semi-darkness. "Marcus, come out you idiot." She demands but there isn't an answer. Just another branch snapping. "This really isn't funny Marcus." She calls out, looking around her.

She turns back in the direction she is heading and sees a figure standing about thirty feet away, a knife in hand with feet planted shoulder-width apart. Jesse lets out an ear-piercing scream and runs to her right, crashing through the thick underbrush of District 12 forests. She can hear heavy footfalls behind her and the rain seems to fall even harder, making it hard for her to see. She wipes water from her eyes so she can keep them open and keeps running, thankful for all of those hours after school spent training with Marcus. She just never thought she'd have to use those skills. He had been right though after all: being a Mellark is dangerous and she needed to know how to protect herself.

She cuts a difficult path through the forest but can't seem to shake her hunter. If anything they are just getting closer. She loses all sense of direction in her desperate flight so when she sees light ahead she charges for it, praying it is Victor's Village. She crashes through the last of the bushes and trees and ends up on a cliff, sharply descending down into the Coal Mine Valley. The Coal Mine river churns some two hundred feet down. She had no idea that District 12 was on a mountain…until now. She turns and watches her hunter crash through the trees, huffing loudly.

"Please, don't hurt me." Jesse pleads.

The hunter lowers her hood and reveals a head of thick blonde hair that cascades over her shoulders. "Why shouldn't I?" The woman has a crazy look in her eyes, making Jesse think that she's psychotic and probably an escapee from District 13.

"Because you don't have a good reason to." Jesse explains.

The woman laughs sharply and then lunges at Jesse.

Haymitch steps off the elevator and ignores his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. It's probably just Katniss and Peeta bothering him to come over for dinner. He'd shoot them a text as soon as he found out from Plutarch how long he'd be in 13 that night. Plutarch is waiting for him outside one of the hospital rooms and shakes Haymitch's hand eagerly.

"Haymitch, thank you for taking time out of your day to come here. I wouldn't have asked you to come it's just that you're the only one from 12 that I want to know about this." Plutarch prompts.

Haymitch peers at Plutarch curiously. "Why can't Peeta and Katniss be involved?" he asks.

"Because I need someone that can look out for them and their kids." He explains vaguely. "Look, Haymitch all you need to know is that Johanna didn't die in that war all those years ago."

"What?" Haymitch asks, shaking his head. "But I saw her body myself."

"The Capitol created a clone of her and put it in the war, taking the real one back. We found her when we were rescuing all those other people and brought her back here to keep a closer eye on her and hopefully return her to the way she was before she went into the Games the first time. It didn't go too smoothly but we kept her here anyway, praying for some improvement." Plutarch explains to Haymitch.

"Okay. And what is the problem now?"

"Well, we kept her under lock-and-key in this room. Now look inside." Plutarch motions to the window and Haymitch immediately understands.

"She's loose." He says.

Plutarch nods sadly. "Yes. And she's vengeful. She's like Peeta when he was hijacked but this is the real deal: she truly hates Katniss. But not just Katniss; Peeta, Jesse, Tyler…she wants to kill them all. And she isn't mentally disabled in any way. She'll find them."

"How long do we have before she does?" Haymitch asks.

"Well…we didn't notice she was gone until this morning and judging by the security tapes, she could very well be in District 12 right now as we speak." Plutarch says with a guilty look in his eyes.

Haymitch sighs and rolls his eyes. Finally, he can't take his phone vibrating anymore so he takes it out and answers it. "What Katniss? I'm at an important meeting with Plutarch."

"Well ask him if he's seen Jesse." She orders.

Haymitch's blood runs cold. "Why?"

"We got in a fight last night and told her we'd talk about it after school today but she never came home. We assumed she was running errands with Tyler but he came home and she's still missing." She tells him in one breath.

"Jesse's missing?" Haymitch repeats, making Plutarch's eyes fill with terror. He immediately goes to one of the guards and tells him to send for the general.

"Yes!" Katniss barks. "Oh Haymitch, we have to find her. It's been five hours and she could be alone out there. She isn't a fighter. Something awful could have happened to her!" she says desperately.

Haymitch and Plutarch make eye contact and then Haymitch tells Katniss, "Katniss, do not go looking for her. Lock all of your windows and doors. Plutarch and I will send out search parties and comb the woods. Keep Tyler in your house and don't let him out of your sight until I say so. The three of you stay together and don't let any strangers into your house. Got it?"

"Do you think something happened?" she asks.

"Just…be prepared for the worst." He says and then hangs up the phone, not wanting to offer any more explanation.

**Told you I could be updating quickly! What'd you think? I think Johanna is a cat with nine lives. At least that's kind of what I'm turning her into. Please review.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	28. Chapter 28

_And even if the moon fell down tonight. There'd be nothing to worry about at all because you make the whole world shine. As long as you're here everything will be alright. – Chase Coy_

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><p>Peeta paces from our side door, through the kitchen, living room to the back door and spins around to go the other direction. One time. Two times. Three times, four. I eventually lose count. Tyler and I are sitting at the kitchen table, coffee mugs in hand and waiting for the phone to ring. Finally I say, "Peeta, please sit. Calm down. They'll find her." I try my best to assure him but he doesn't come sit beside me.<p>

"No. Something bad has happened, I know it." He argues angrily, his voice carrying from the other room. I look over at Tyler and shrug at his questioning gaze.

I stand up and head him off in the living room, careful to keep my voice low as I say, "Come sit down and stop freaking Tyler out. Okay?" I order, grabbing him by the elbow and releasing him when we enter the kitchen. He pours himself a mug of coffee and sits at the head of the table; his usual place.

We sit there for hours, none of us talking. There's no need for us to say anything. We are all paralyzed by fear and we have no way of distracting ourselves from the icy splinters that have become lodged in our hearts. The food that Tyler brought home for dinner sits untouched, Peeta not feeling well enough to cook.

After about two hours with still no word, Peeta suddenly grips the table and grows pale. Tyler looks at me with wide, scared eyes. He has never seen one of Peeta's episodes. I scooch my chair over so I'm sitting next to Peeta and grip his shoulders in both of my hands. After several minutes Peeta looks at me with an even gaze and says, "I need a minute." I nod as he stands up and goes outside on to the deck.

I look over at Tyler. "He's okay. I'm sorry you had to see that." I apologize.

He shakes his head. "I thought it would be worse than that." He comments quietly. "All those years you hid it from us…"

"It's gotten better since then." I tell him, keeping an eye on the back door. "He should be okay now, why don't you go talk to him? I'll keep a look-out."

He nods and pushes away from the table. When he shuts the door to the deck with a light thud my whole body shudders and I lay my head down on the cool table. I try to imagine a world without my daughter and I can't find it. I think back to the time when Peeta and I found out we were going to have a daughter. Since I was so freaked out about even being pregnant Peeta figured that I'd feel better if I was on the up-and-up on everything that was happening.

_"A girl." He whispers as we walk back to Victor's Village. He has barely said anything else since we left the hospital, appropriately named after my mother. I wrap my coat tighter around my midsection – as tight as it will go – and look up at the high snow drifts, remembering the time that I was scared they would cave in on me. _

_As our house comes into view I say, "Are you sure you can handle another female in the house?"_

_He doesn't answer until we reach our front door, where he grabs my hand and smiles. "Well I'll be damned if she turns out anything like you." Then we start laughing. He unlocks the front door and ushers me inside. "But seriously, you are going to be the one to give her 'the talk.'" _

"_Don't worry, I'm way ahead of you on that one. I didn't even doubt whether I'd be doing it or not." I tell him, smiling as he removes my coat. He takes his place by the stove and I sit by the counter, watching him pull spices out of the cupboard. He catches me watching and looks over at me, smirking. "What?" he asks._

_I shake my head. "Oh, nothing." His nonchalant attitude makes me think of Finnick and this opens the door to the upsetting past that I've worked hard to put behind me, but like Peeta's flashbacks, it keeps coming back. The dark clouds of my past are like black ink being spilled on a pristine white canvas in Peeta's studio. He looks over at me and sees it in my eyes. He sets everything down and pulls a stool up across from me, holding my hands in both of his and stroking my wedding band._

"_Katniss, stop doubting yourself." He tells me. This isn't the first time I've felt this way._

_I shake my head and a couple tears escape. "Peeta, what if we fail?" _

"_We won't." he promises. _

"_Parents shouldn't have to bury their children." I say desperately. _

_He sighs and his eyes get sad. "I know. We don't have to worry about that though." He assures me, rubbing my shoulder._

"_My mom thought that and she almost had to put me in the ground…and Prim…" I can't finish the sentence. _

_Peeta's arms wrap around me and I rest my head on his shoulder. "It's okay. Our daughter will always be safe. I'll lay down my life for her if we have to."_

That was the first time Peeta had ever said anything like that. And sitting here at this table waiting to hear if something awful had happened to that same daughter I am thinking, Will he actually do it? If it comes down to one of us having to lay down our lives, there's no doubt in my mind that Peeta would convince me that it has to be him. But he's the better parent; I should be the one to go. I guess it's that love though, that he has for our kids that will also make him the better parent. So then if I'm not strong enough to die for my daughter, what kind of mother am I? If I would die for Jesse without even thinking about it like I know Peeta would, how does that make me look?

* * *

><p>Jesse raises her arms to block any blows that come but instead she hears the startling sound of flesh meeting flesh. How strange, she doesn't feel anything. Is she dead? She opens her eyes and sees Marcus standing in front of her in a protective stance. He holds a knife tightly in one hand. "Get away from her!" he orders angrily. Even I cringe at the venom in his voice.<p>

"She has something I need." The woman tells Marcus.

He doesn't miss a beat though. "Well you're gonna have to find another way of getting it because you won't be able to touch her as long as I'm here." He promises. "Now go, get out of here." She obeys, turning and taking a few steps as to go back in the dense woods but spins quickly and charges at him, wielding a knife she had hidden before.

He anticipates her attack and stabs her shoulder with his knife before she can lay one hand on her. She crumbles, clutching her shoulder. Marcus grabs my hand and pulls me away from her and we start running. We hear her scream, "This is isn't over!"

They don't stop running until they reach town. When they do she grabs his arm and pulls him back into the shadows, ignoring the rain that the clogged gutter above them was pouring down on their heads. "How'd you find me? I didn't hear you coming." She tells him.

"I heard you scream and I took off in the direction of your scream. The person chasing you wasn't very quiet." He says, taking off his rain coat and wrapping it around her. "Now Jesse, you have to tell me if you recognize her."

She shakes her head. "I've never seen her before in my life."

"You promise?" he asks. She nods so he smiles grimly. "C'mon, let's get you home. I can't imagine how upset your parents are."

"Please, they're just angry that I'm so late." She says, looping her arm through his and not talking until they reach her door step and walk in. She sees her mom sitting at the table with a mug of coffee squeezed tightly between her hands. "Okay, I know I'm late and I'm real sorry but you'd never—" she is cut off by Katniss hugging her. "What…?" she mumbles, not really returning the hug.

Katniss pulls away and hugs Marcus. "Thank you so much for finding her." She directs to him. "What happened?" she asks Jesse.

Peeta and Tyler walk in from the back door and Peeta immediately hugs Jesse too. Tyler goes after him. "Aren't I in trouble?" she asks.

"Now we're more concerned about you being safe." Katniss says as Peeta heads to the phone and dials Haymitch's number.

"So I'm not in trouble?" Jesse clarifies.

"Only if you don't tell us where you were first. Were you in the woods?" Katniss asks.

"No, why would—" Marcus cuts Jesse off.

"Yeah, this crazy chick tried to kill her." He tells her parents truthfully. "Neither of us recognized her from anywhere. Luckily I heard her scream and was able to track them down and rescue her."

Peeta eyes Marcus curiously but shakes his head. "Right now we're just happy that you're okay. Go take a shower and go to bed. We'll talk in the morning." Just as Jesse reaches the bottom of the steps Peeta adds, "And Jesse, please don't sneak out tonight. Just do what we say for once and don't do it."

She nods. "You've got it." She smiles at Marcus one last time before stomping the rest of the way up the steps.

* * *

><p>"So who do you think it was?" I ask Peeta later that night as we climb into bed. "And don't you think Haymitch's behavior was off tonight? It seemed like all he cared about was talking to Jesse." I add.<p>

Peeta rolls his eyes and lays his book down on the bedside table. "Katniss, he is her godfather." He reminds me. "At least he cared enough to show up sober."

"He's gotten better about drinking." I punch his arm playfully. "What are we going to do though? I mean, he only told us that there was a security breach in Thirteen and it means we need to lie low for a while. What the Hell does that mean?"

He sighs. "Well, Haymitch knows what he's talking about, obviously and his judgment has always been spot-on so I'm going to listen to him." He pauses. "What about Marcus?"

"He did save her life." I recall. "But that's no excuse for him being so distracting to her."

"Oh I know that. But Katniss…" he says, not finishing the sentence. He looks away from me and slides down under the covers.

"But what?" I exclaim. "There's no justification for it."

He laughs. "I wasn't trying to justify his actions. I was just thinking that she could do a lot worse. How many guys would put themselves in a life-threatening situation to save their girlfriend at Jesse's age?"

"I can only think of one." I smile at him.

"Exactly." He turns off the lamp next to the bed and flips on to his side. I roll over and curl up next to him but I'm not tired at all.

"Peeta?" I eventually whisper, feeling like I was twenty-five again.

"Yeah?" he answers quietly.

I hesitate before taking breath and swallowing hard. "This is exactly what I was afraid of." I force myself to admit. He stiffens before flipping over to his other side so he can look at me. I continue. "I was scared that our past would continue to haunt us and then haunt our children."

"How do you know that this involves our past?" he asks.

"What else could it be?" I ask scathingly.

He sighs and searches for my hand under the covers. "Well, whether this is our past or present that is trying to tear us apart, it can wait until morning. We'll have to fully apply ourselves to figure this out so we should get some sleep, okay?" he asks, sweeping my hair behind my ear. I nod and close my eyes. He kisses my forehead and whispers, "I love you." I'm too far gone in unconsciousness to answer, but I don't need to; he knows.

**That chapter was a lot longer than I anticipated. Wow. Okay, review please. And coming up soon I'll be asking you guys to contribute to THON, a fundraiser I'm involved with. I'll put a little blurb up on my profile about it so you can know what it is then. For now just review please.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	29. Chapter 29

"_Haters are my motivators." – Ellen DeGeneres_

* * *

><p>As the weeks blur by Jesse is no closer to identifying who it was that attacked her than she was on the day it happened. Perhaps it was wrong on Peeta's part to let her go to sleep so soon but we both agree that it is probably better for her to not know who her attacker was so she isn't always fretting about it. From what we can tell, she hasn't had any nightmares about it which is unusual. I mean, she's our daughter for Pete's sake.<p>

Since the attack though, she has been slightly more removed. More distant. Less vibrant and more held back. We were scared at first that she was more traumatized than she was letting on but we soon figured out that she was just being more careful and that she was scared. It would pass soon.

But it's still going on. Marcus – who is still around thanks to Peeta finally caving and agreeing that it's best for him to be with her – sticks by her side in school and secretly meets with Peeta and me. It's the same thing every time though: she is applying herself completely to school but she's pushing away her friends. What once was a girl with Peeta's strong charisma is now a girl with my repellence. As the cold of winter settles in, I decide that it is time for me to say something to her.

I take her out hunting with me in the woods and even though I have my bow and arrows with me I know I won't be doing any actual hunting. As we trudge through the thick underbrush I say, "So your brother told me about him being recognized in school yesterday for his exceptional grades and that he was offered a scholarship to a math school in Spain."

"Yeah. It's cool I guess." She comments vaguely.

I look over at her. "Really? Because I remember a time when you made fun of people like that."

"People change." She mumbles, not saying anything else.

Something flares up in me and I can't take it anymore. "Jesse, what's bothering you?"

"Well, I mean, when it was announced people were laughing at him." She says but I quickly cut her off.

"Jesse, you're obviously smart enough to know that I'm not asking about that. I mean, what has been bothering you since your attack?" I ask.

She's quiet for a while. She eventually confesses, "I feel so vulnerable. Not just when I'm alone but all the time. If it weren't for Marcus, I wouldn't be alive right now. So not only do I feel like I'm a wimp but I also owe Marcus for saving me and I feel like I'll never be able to repay him."

I sigh, absorbing her words. "I understand you feeling like you owe Marcus but you really don't. You being alive is good enough for him."

"Really?" she asks, genuinely surprised.

"Have you noticed the way Peeta looks at me?" I ask. She nods. "Well he looks at you the same way. I practically begged your father to let you keep him around."

"Wow." She breathes. "But…that doesn't make me feel any safer."

I swallow hard, understanding exactly how she feels but not knowing how to address it. "Well what do you think we should do about it?"

She suddenly turns and faces me, jaw set with determination, eyes hard. She says something I never could have expected. "I'm going to join the army."

I'm taken aback by her words and even more confused. "Excuse me?"

"Don't be mad, but before the attack I was sneaking out of the house every night to go to this secret fight club that Marcus's brother runs in the woods. That's how I was able to at least get away from whoever it was that attacked me. Mom, I _like _fighting." She says strongly.

I gaze into my daughter's eyes, thinking back to all those times she came crying to me because Tyler messed up one of her dolls, or when she begged for a pink tutu for Christmas one year. "Jesse…" I say, but I still have no idea how to finish that sentence.

"Are you upset?" she asks nervously.

I shake my head. "I don't know. I mean, I am so proud of you for making this decision…but this is a big deal." She gives me a questioning stare. "Honey, your father and I still have scars from the wars we fought. You know what happened to him. Alright, if you think he's a nice guy now you should've known him before he was even a tribute. And wars are dangerous." I state firmly.

"So you're scared?" she asks, giving me a half-smile.

"No, I…okay yeah I'm scared." I admit.

She's quiet for a while before asking, "So are you gonna let me do it?"

I look her up and down and see not the little girl that wore pink everyday and the teenager that snuck out of the house to go to parties but a young woman who has been preparing herself for war. The changes she's been making since the attack aren't because she's hurt; she now knows what she wants to do in her life and she knows that if she really wants to do it she'll have to make some changes. And so she has.

"Yes." I agree.

* * *

><p>I don't say anything to Peeta about Jesse until later that night when I meet him in the bakery. He sits on a stool, working meticulously over a cake. His hand is steady as he makes the frosted flowers to sit on the edges. "What's this one for?" I ask him, not saying hi when I walk in.<p>

He doesn't look up, already knowing it's me. "Luna's birthday party. Has Jesse gotten a present for her yet?" he asks.

"Luna is Tyler's friend Peeta." I remind him, walking around the large wooden table and settling on a stool next to him.

He nods. "Right. I knew that." He says, winking at me but keeping his attention glued to the cake. "Has he gotten a present for her yet?"

"Peeta, you were supposed to give him money today when he was here with you." I groan.

He looks at me with wide eyes and sets down the flower he is working on, clearing his throat. "I'm sorry. We got to talking and I guess I forgot."

"It's fine." I shrug. Then I notice the expression on his face. "What's wrong? Is it something you two talked about?"

He nods hesitantly. "Yeah. I know he told you about his scholarship, right?" I nod affirmatively. "Well…he really wants to go."

I sit and deliberate over that for a while. "Well, when we decided to have kids we both promised that we'd do everything to help them lead successful lives."

"So we let him go?" he asks, looking at me with fearful eyes.

I put my arm around his shoulders. "We both knew this day would come." I tell him.

"Now we just need to figure out what to do with Jesse. With her grades she'll never make it into a university and she hates working here. Maybe we can ship her off to the Capitol and she can be a designer." He suggests sarcastically.

I roll my eyes and snort. "Ha-ha. As tempting as that is," I reply with just as much sarcasm, "she told me what she wants to do."

He senses my hesitation and smiles. "Are you going to tell me?"

"She wants to join the army."

He sits and studies my face for a while before saying the same thing I had said before, "Excuse me?" I don't react. "Absolutely not!" he exclaims.

"Peeta, she's already decided. The way she's been acting lately has been her preparing herself for it." I tell him. I see anger clouding over his face and I quickly move the cake to avoid him pounding his fist into it. He takes a knife and throws it at the far wall. It sinks into it to the hilt.

"She can't be in the army!" he exclaims. "She wouldn't even make it through boot camp." He sputters out.

I sigh. "She would actually. She told me when we were hunting and I tested her. She has the same talent with a bow and arrows that I did back when I was her age."

"That's great and all but you can't win a war with a bow and some arrows." He says, pacing around the table.

I clear my throat. "You can actually." I remind him. "And let me put it this way, if she were reaped, she would stand a very good chance of winning. The Careers would probably beg her to be with them."

He relaxes and looks at me. "She'd say no."

I nod in agreement. "She would. But them offering would be quite something." He sits back down on his stool and buries his face in his hands. I place my hand in the crook of his elbow. "Peeta." I whisper. "She'll be okay. She can handle herself."

He exhales slowly before saying, "Both of them gone."

"I know." I say, not taking my eyes off of his face.

"I have my reasons for not letting either of them go, you know." He pauses. "But at the same time, I know it's for the best and I know that I'll always have you." He says before looking over at me and cupping my face in his hands.

"Always." I whisper as he gives me a long, passionate kiss.

**That's it for now. The good news is that I have the next couple chapters typed up so the next couple updates should be snappy as well. Please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	30. Chapter 30

_Love is bigger than any tidal wave or any fear. – Bethany Hamilton_

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><p>As I am drying the last dish from dinner I feel Peeta's arms snake around my waist. His lips make a line down my neck as I say, "The kids are upstairs." My words are sincere but my hips just naturally fit against his.<p>

"They're not exactly kids anymore." Peeta grumbles, his voice sending shivers down my spine.

I sigh and the romantic moment is over as I realize how true Peeta's words are. "You're right. Jesse is heading off to boot camp next fall and Tyler will be going to that academy in Spain the following spring. Soon we'll be all by ourselves here."

"Doesn't sound so bad at the moment." He remarks. I roll my eyes and look at the clock.

I sigh one more time. "I'm gonna go check on them and then I'll be back." I promise, pecking him on the lips once. "Happy Christmas." I whisper as I slip out of his arms.

"Happy Christmas." He calls back as I go up the steps. I stop outside Tyler's door where he is sitting on his bed with his math textbook open.

I stand next to his bed with my arms crossed. "You never stop, do you?"

"I just wanted to see if it was possible for a code to be hidden in one of these." He admits, pushing his glasses up farther on his nose.

"Oh, look, my brother the nerd." Jesse says from the hallway as she walks by.

I roll my eyes. "Don't worry about her. She's just mad because she can't go overseas like you."

"Why don't we have fancy academies here?" he asks. "I'm excited to go, but at the same time I'm reluctant to go so far away."

I shrug. "Unfortunately, it's the sacrifice all of us mothers and fathers in this country have to make if we want our children to get a real quality education. Believe it or not, before Panem existed people sent their kids here for better schooling."

"Really?" he asks, his eyes full of wonder.

I nod. "So you're not the first one to leave your home country to go to school." I tell him. "Besides, you have over a year before you have to leave. And before you leave you get six blissful months of living here without Jesse."

He pauses. "Do you think codes could ever be hidden in these Mom?" he asks quietly.

"All numbers are codes. You just need to unlock the key." I tell him. I walk down the hallway to Jesse's room and sit on the edge of her bed, watching her hang up her new clothes I had gotten her.

"I asked you not to get me so many new clothes." She says. "I won't be able to wear them when I'm in Thirteen." She reminds me.

I roll my eyes. "I know. But you can wear them whenever you decide that you need to come home and visit and you also don't leave for eight months so you'll have plenty of time to wear them before you leave. In fact you'll probably get even more clothes for your birthday in April." I laugh.

She sits down on the bed next to me. "I really appreciate Mom. Everything you and Dad have to done for me and Tyler." She looks at me sincerely.

"Where is this coming from?" I ask her.

She looks down at her hands sadly. "It's just…I know that this is a very different holiday for some families in our district. We're not all lucky to have such wealthy parents."

"Yeah well, unfortunately that isn't something that has changed. Even though President Onyx became a good guy he still insists on paying us victors an exorbitant amount of money. He says it's just to repay us for suffering through Snow's reign." I tell her.

"Why are you and Dad suddenly being more open about the politics of Panem?" she asks.

"Well, we figure you'll learn all about it anyway at boot camp so we want you to be more educated on it when you get there." I answer honestly. "We also want you to know be well-informed and not filled with any Capitol garbage." She nods understandingly.

"What are you gonna do when Tyler and I are gone?" she asks, smiling shyly.

"Enjoy the peace and quiet whole-heartedly." I say, patting her knee and standing up to walk back to our bedroom.

**I know this was a short chapter and it was also probably really boring excitement is coming, I promise! For now please review.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	31. Chapter 31

_Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. – Anonymous_

* * *

><p><em><strong>(Skipping ahead to the next Christmas.)<strong>_

"Tyler, come on! We're gonna be late picking up your sister!" I yell up the steps. Peeta comes in through the front door, smiling brightly and his cheeks are flushed.

"What's all the yelling about?" he asks innocently, dropping a set of keys on the counter.

"We're going to be late picking Jesse up from the train station." I explain irritably, walking around the kitchen straightening up what needs to be straightened up.

There's a stack of Christmas cards from numerous different people that I notice sitting at the end of the kitchen table as Peeta says, "Calm down, you're acting like she didn't live here for seventeen years." He sits down at the end of the table and props his feet up on another chair.

"What is that?" I ask, ignoring his statement and pointing to the cards.

He looks at them for a couple seconds, obviously trying to think of something smart to say to me but choosing instead to say, "A stack of Christmas cards that I am moving to my studio."

I nod in approval as he stands up, collects the cards and walks toward his studio. "Tyler, come on!" I yell.

"I'm coming already, for Pete's sake." He says, shrugging on his jacket as he stomps down the steps. "I was just talking to Julie."

"Julie, huh?" Peeta asks as he reenters the room. "What are you getting her for Christmas?" he winks at me and I roll my eyes.

Tyler's eyes get wide. "I have to get her a present?" he exclaims.

"No, your father was joking. If she's your friend you don't have to get her anything." I tell him and smile at the relieved expression on his face. "Now, let's get a move on. Your sister gets here in twenty minutes."

"Yeah, Heaven forbid she's forgotten her way home by now, forcing us to escort her." Tyler remarks sarcastically. Peeta laughs and I shoot him an evil look as I turn and lock the door.

As we head toward the train station snow starts to fall. I link my arm through Peeta's and say, "First snow of the season. It's weird. We've usually had a few good blizzards by now."

"I agree. I guess you're gonna have to stop hunting soon." He remarks subtly.

I roll my eyes. "You know that snow doesn't stop me. A hurricane probably couldn't stop me." I tell him.

"Right, because you're invincible." He says, looking down at me and smiling.

"Wouldn't you like to believe that." I whisper, stretching up to give him a kiss. Tyler clears his throat behind us.

"Yeah guys, remember me? I'm still here you know." He says sarcastically.

Peeta and I both roll our eyes as we walk into the train station. I stand up on my toes to see over the crowd of people welcoming back their loved ones from Thirteen. "Hey! Mom, Dad!" I hear a familiar voice yell.

Before she reaches us though another person steps in front of her and she leaps into his arms. "OMG, I can't believe you are all here!" she exclaims when she reaches us but still manages to keep one arm wrapped around Marcus.

"We wanted to give you a proper homecoming." I tell her, wrapping my arms around her.

We pass through Christmas Day peacefully. Even Haymitch is quiet and limits his alcohol intake, claiming he wants to remember this holiday since he is convinced that he only has a little bit left. I take him outside to stand on the deck to talk. The cold air is biting so I take a swig of his liquor. "I need to talk to you." I say seriously.

"What's up?" he asks casually, brushing off the snow on the railing so he can lean against it.

"I saw Johanna yesterday." I confess. "You've known, since Jesse was attacked, that she's here."

Haymitch shrugs. "We figured she'd moved on by now. She hasn't attacked any more of you."

"It was just a warning, wasn't it?" I ask. I don't need him to answer. "Haymitch, she's never gonna stop until she gets me."

"Katniss, what you're saying is ridiculous. Okay? You are not allowed to confront her." He orders.

I laugh darkly. "If I don't who will?" I exclaim. I see Peeta glance up at us through the window and quickly lower my voice and adjust my stance so it looks less defensive. "Haymitch, please understand me."

"I won't. Katniss, you're not thinking clearly. Think logically. You know we'll get her now that we know she's still here." He quickly defends, keeping his straight face as Peeta is walking toward the door. "And if you do what you're thinking about doing, your husband will be the first person I tell."

Peeta slides the door open and steps out, holding a coat toward me. He steps up behind me and wraps it around my slender shoulders, saying, "It's cold out here. What are you two doing?"

"Oh, I just wanted to know how Jesse is doing at boot camp." Haymitch quickly lies. There is an awkward silence and he finally breaks it by saying, "Look at that, I'm out of drink. I think I'll just be going inside." He walks inside, his boots crunching on the ice.

There's another pause as Peeta stands across from me, observing my face closely. "So are you going to tell me what you two were really talking about?"

"It was exactly what he said. He wanted to know how Jesse was doing but didn't want to embarrass her by asking me in front of her." I say smoothly.

He nods. "Okay, I get it. You two are keeping secrets from me again."

I sigh and shake my head. "Peeta, it's not like that."

"Whatever." He says nonchalantly with a wave of his hand. "Just remember that I usually come out better than you when you keep secrets from me." He slams the door behind him, making me shudder. His coat is still warm so I wrap it more tightly around myself. I look up at the clouded sky above me and can smell the snow in the air. Wolves howl in the distance. This would be the perfect night for hunting. I look over my shoulder at Jesse and Marcus sitting next to each other on the sofa, Jesse so close to him that she's practically on his lap. They are both watching TV and eating popcorn. Marcus tosses a piece at Jesse and misses her mouth. She throws a piece back and hits her target perfectly. I look farther into the room and see Peeta and Haymitch in the kitchen, sitting at the table having a drink together. I look through the other windows and see Tyler slaving over his homework. This is my family, how could I ever leave them?

* * *

><p>A couple weeks later Jesse has already gone back to Thirteen and Tyler has just left for school, leaving Peeta and I alone for a little while. He sits and reads the news report that Onyx sends him personally every couple of weeks updating him on all that is going on in the Capitol. "I think I'm gonna go hunting today." I tell him.<p>

He sits the paper down and looks over his shoulder at the two feet of snow outside on the deck and every else in the District. He shrugs. "Okay." He goes back to reading his paper.

"Is everything okay?" I ask him.

He shakes his head and plasters an innocent expression on his face. "Yep."

I sigh. "No. Peeta, tell me what's wrong." I tell him. "Please?" I say in a softer voice.

He sets the paper down again and stands up. He walks around to my side of the counter we are sitting at and cups my face in his hands. He bends down to kiss me. "It's just that…you and I haven't made love in several weeks and I am starting to go into withdrawal."

"Well maybe I should make you wait. I like the desperate side of you." I whisper, my hands making their way up to his hair and knotting in it. "Can I give you a haircut first?" I ask sarcastically.

"Ouch." He whispers, his kisses making their way down my neck and getting more passionate. Eventually he lifts me up and carries me down the hallway, past the steps to our bedroom.

I give a tiny cough and say, "Um, our bedroom is the other way."

"I know. I thought the art studio would be nice for this occasion." He tells me, his lips staying connected with mine.

"We've never had sex in your art studio." I state.

He smiles. "There's a first time for everything." He says, pushing the door open behind him and gently placing me on the table he'd obviously cleared off earlier.

He kisses me softly, whispering sweet endearments while somehow removing my cardigan and shoes so that I'm only in my jeans and cami. Soon those are gone too. I strip him down to his underwear also. Soon enough there's nothing, skin on skin. My body feels as if it is on fire. I raise my arms and wrap them around his torso and turn so that I am on top of him, keeping him pinned to the table.

We love passionately and slowly and it is well after nine by the time I get dressed to go hunting. He remains on the table, smiling satisfactorily with not a stitch of clothing on. "Don't be gone too long." He says.

"I'll be home in time to stop by the bakery for lunch; one at the latest. I promise." I whisper, leaning down to give him one last lingering kiss. He grabs hold of my hand and plants kisses all over until I finally giggle and yank it away. "I have to go if you want fresh game for dinner tonight." I say.

"Fine, go." He throws my hand back to my side and pinches my butt as I walk away.

Once I'm out in the crisp cold air I let my heart start to break. But I can't get away so easily. As I walk by Haymitch's house his door opens and I instantly think that I should've gone straight into the woods from my back door.

Haymitch steps outside and stands at the top of the steps. "So what'd you tell Peeta?" he asks venomously.

"It's none of your business Haymitch." I say coolly as I turn and keep walking.

"I think as your mentor whatever you do is my business." He calls. I spin and start walking back toward him. "

"If you tell Peeta…" I start to threaten but he cuts me off.

He laughs. "You'll what?" he slowly descends down the steps and stands a few feet across from me. "That's what I thought." He says when I don't answer.

I don't give him another second to antagonize me. I step forward and snap his head against the steel railing trailing the steps. He slumps down to the ground. I hoist his body up in my arms and drag him up the steps and inside his house. I put him in a chair by the kitchen table and step away cautiously. I run out his back door and into the woods, hoping Peeta won't be taking one of the paths to the bakery.

I reach the spot that Marcus said he traced to Jesse's scream and strung an arrow through my bow, holding it at the ready. I spin in a circle continuously, trying not to think about Peeta and Tyler and Jesse and Haymitch and Greasy Sae and Marcus. I pray that she'll make it quick, clean.

That is exactly what I get. I hear a rustle behind me and feel a sharp pain in my back but it disappears quickly, along with the rest of the world.

**Oh no! Bummer…please review.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	32. Chapter 32

_I wish the whole world could see, and feel, what's in this room right now. – Joe Paterno at THON 2009_

* * *

><p>Peeta sits at his kitchen table with his hands folded tightly in front of him. He looks over at the clock one last time. Two o'clock. Katniss had never been so late coming home from hunting. He had figured around one-thirty that she had caught something good and would drag it through the door eventually. Then the minutes start to tick by and he gets confused. That morning after she left he had thought that when she'd get home they'd pick up where they left off. But she isn't home yet.<p>

Another fifteen minutes go by before Peeta finally stands up so fast his chair tips backward. He races outside, not even bothering to put on a coat or shoes and sprints down the snowy sidewalk to Haymitch's house where he pounds on the door until it opens. "I hear you, what are _you_ doing here?" he asks, noticing that it's only Peeta – which is a rare event.

"Enough with the lies Haymitch." Peeta demands angrily.

Haymitch sighs and slides a hand down his face. "She told you."

"She didn't tell me anything actually. That's why I'm here." He pauses to collect himself. "Haymitch, I know you two were hiding things from me and now she's late coming home and she never is this late, not when she knows that Tyler will be home soon. I've got this awful feeling that something happened to her." He says in a huff.

"Late coming home from where?" Haymitch asks.

Peeta sighs and shrugs. "Hunting. She left around ten."

"Hunting? Like, in the woods?" Haymitch repeats.

Peeta stands on the doorstep and looks at Haymitch coolly. "There are so many sarcastic things I could say to you but quite frankly, I am too worried and _pissed _to be funny."

Haymitch hesitates but eventually says, "Grab your coat. And for God's sake, put some shoes on."

"Where are we going?"

"District Thirteen." Haymitch says with finality.

Peeta furrows his brow. "But…we should go look for her! What if she's hurt?" he exclaims.

"If she's hurt there won't be much either of us can do by ourselves."

"It can take hours to get a team together and then even longer to search the woods. Time means everything if she's hurt." Peeta reminds Haymitch.

Haymitch reaches behind him and takes the coat from the coat rack. "I'll explain on the train ride there, I promise." He says sincerely as he puts the coat on. He pats Peeta on the shoulder. "Let's go." He fairly pulls Peeta down the steps and forces him into a pair of shoes and his coat. Soon they are on the way to the train station.

* * *

><p>Johanna drags the body through the woods, not being careful at all when it snags a branch or loose tree root. She takes it straight Victor's Village and into the house she had bought out earlier that morning. Checking to make sure the lights were not on in either Peeta's house or Haymitch's house, she withdrew her keys and unlocked the front door. She kicked the body inside and left it sitting on the doormat, shutting the door and locking it behind her.<p>

She decided to go into town and visit Peeta in the bakery when she noticed that there was someone down on the sidewalk below her. "Hi." She says in a faux friendly voice.

The teen standing on the sidewalk just keeps staring at her. "What is that?" he asks.

"What is what?" Johanna asks innocently.

"Is that…blood?" he asks in disbelief, looking down at the slab of concrete Johanna was standing on. He takes a step closer. She takes a step to the side to fully reveal the stain that the bloody bitch had left.

"No, of course not." She stammers. "It's just, a little paint I spilled today. I am redoing the…the kitchen."

The boy nods. His eyes narrow slightly like he is thinking about something deeply. "Well, that must make eating in it impossible."

"Why?" she asks, bristling automatically.

"The fumes from the paint?" he asks. "You can come over our house for dinner if you like. My dad is an excellent cook." He assures her sincerely.

She nods. _I'm sure he is._ She thinks. "I'd love to join you." She agrees. "What time would be best?" she asks.

He looks over his shoulder at the dark house behind him. "Well, I'm actually not sure if he'll be home in time for dinner tonight. He's probably gone off to do something in District Thirteen."

"District Thirteen, huh?" she asks.

"Maybe we can make a rain check on dinner?" he proposes.

She nods. "Of course. Good night." She dismisses him politely and watches him walk across the expanse of grass dividing the houses in Victor's Village. "No problem at all." She adds bitterly to herself.

Sighing, she walks back into the house and trips over the body she'd forgotten was there. She drags it to the basement and turns on the faucet over the metal wash basin. She throws the body roughly inside and watches the water slowly turn pink with blood. She removes all of the clothing on the body and throws it in the fireplace she had lit earlier. After washing the body thoroughly she puts a pair of rubber gloves on and removes it from the wash basin. She puts it in a new bag and changes her own clothes before sneaking out the back door to go throw the body over a cliff where she knows it'll be days before they find it.

* * *

><p>The next morning Tyler is woken up by the front door banging shut. He creeps downstairs to see what it was but finds the kitchen and living room deserted. "Dad? Is that you?" he calls out, worried about his father not returning the night before. There is the soft thud of a door closing and foot steps running. "Hey! Get out of my house you bastard!" he shouts angrily to whoever was running.<p>

He rounds the corner and barrels into his older sister. "Jesse? What are you doing here?" he asks.

She steps away from him and clutches both shoulders tightly. "Have you talked to Dad at all?" she asks seriously.

He shakes his head. "No. But I don't understand, why are you here?"

"Mom is missing." She says without the slightest hesitation. Tyler stares at her, not knowing how to react.

"There's no way." He says. "She's probably in District Thirteen with Dad." He assures her.

She sighs. "Tyler, I live in District Thirteen! I would know if she was there. Especially since I ran into Dad last night." She says. "Mom is nowhere to be found."

"Oh no." Tyler whispers, sinking against the wall behind him.

Jesse stands there and gapes at him. "That's seriously how you're going to react to this? We have to go find her!" she exclaims.

He bolts back up to his feet. "No. You know what Mom and Dad said about going into the woods. It's dangerous. We can't go back."

"Tyler, I'm not living my life in fear. I bet you anything that Mom was out there in the woods and the same person that attacked me found her. She said she wanted revenge and most revenge plots lead back to Mom and Dad." She pauses. "Tyler you have to help me."

He studies Jesse carefully for a few moments. Finally he shakes his head. "No. Absolutely not. Whatever is going on, we should leave it up to the professionals." She opens her mouth to say something but he cuts her off. "And you don't count Jesse. You've only been in boot camp for five months." He reminds her before storming off. Then he walks back around the corner and says, "Jesse, you need to stop acting like Mom. Because if she were in your position, she wouldn't be stupid enough to think that she can fix it herself."

**Oh no. So they don't know what happens to Katniss and now Peeta's family is falling apart. It's like a Lifetime movie. Ha-ha.**

**This past weekend I went to Penn State's Dance MaraTHON that benefits pediatric cancer. It's a year-round fundraiser and they revealed the total for 2011-2012 on Sunday. We made $10.6 million for finding the cure for cancer! Woo-hoo!**

**Please review, even though you probably hate me for killing Katniss.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	33. Chapter 33

_People can change like the seasons. The seasons can change like people. It can be fast or slow, noticeable or subtle. The choice is up to you. – Anonymous_

* * *

><p>A couple days pass and there is still no word on Katniss. Jesse heads back to District Thirteen to pack some more clothes for home after getting excused from boot camp by Plutarch. Tyler goes to school and explains everything to Julie, who is less than eager to hear the news.<p>

A few days after Katniss's disappearance, Tyler is sitting in History class. He keeps reading the question on his practice writing prompt but he can't focus on it. He keeps seeing random numbers in his head, over and over again. He's used to being preoccupied by numbers because of his obsession with math but these numbers had no solution or pattern…they were just normal.

Julie spins around in her seat in front of him and shushes him. "What?" he asks.

"If you tap your pen one more time I will throw it out the window." She whispers. He looks down and sees that he's tapping his pen against his history text book.

"Okay, I'll stop." He promises. He bows his head back down to his work as Julie sighs.

"You can't focus either?" she asks.

He shrugs. "You're good at math, right?"

She nods and looks indifferent. "Depends. What kind of math are we talking?"

"Patterns." He tells her. "I keep seeing the same numbers over and over again in my head."

"Let's hear it." She says eagerly.

"22, 51, 21,74, 81, 63, 81 again, 21, 62, 120, 21 again, 82, 63 again, 81, 73, and 15." He recounts, Julie writing the numbers down in her notebook furiously.

She studies them for several moments, then turns back to Tyler. "Do you think they have something to do with your mom?" she asks.

His eyes flash up to meet hers. He opens his mouth to say something but then stops himself. He looks over at their teacher working at her desk. "Cover for me." He says to Julie. "Excuse me, Mrs. Tybee, I don't feel well. Can I go to the healer's office?"

Mrs. Tybee looks up at him and purses her lips. "Is it serious?"

He fakes a cringe. "Yeah, I think it's my appendix." He says, faking another cringe.

"He's been like this all day." Julie lies quickly.

"Then take your things and go. Miss Oliver, I'll trust you to give him the work he'll miss." She says to Julie, writing Tyler a pass. He hunches his shoulders and limps slightly as he walks to her desk and then out the door. Once he's in the hallway he tightens the straps on his backpack and sprints down the long corridor, using his whole body to push the door open at the end.

He doesn't stop running when he's outside. Not until he barrels up the steps to his house and in the front door. "Dad!" he shouts. His father emerges from his art studio.

"Tyler, why are you home early?" he asks seriously.

"I think I have a clue for the investigation." Tyler answers.

Peeta sighs. "Tyler, if it's some number code I doubt it has anything to do with your mother. It's probably a problem from your homework last night."

"No, Dad, I swear, this can help." Tyler vows.

His dad waves him off as there is a knock on the front door. Tyler kicks the table he is standing next to and throws his backpack down on to the chair.

"Haymitch, did you find something?" Peeta asks when he sees Haymitch on his doorstep.

Haymitch smiles grimly. "Yeah, Peeta, we did actually." He steps aside so Peeta can see Plutarch standing on the sidewalk, clutching a plastic bag containing random objects. A locket, wedding band, engagement ring, pocket knife, wallet…a mockingjay pin.

"Plutarch?" he asks quietly. Plutarch looks down at his face with is lips pressed in a grim line. Peeta looks over at Haymitch. "Haymitch…it can't be…"

Haymitch looks over at Plutarch and over at Peeta. He shakes his head. "I'm so sorry." He whispers, his eyes filling with tears.

All thoughts leave Peeta's head so he can only think one thing, but it isn't possible. Tyler hears his dad yell something and sprints toward the door. Peeta is sitting on the first couple steps, clutching a plastic bag to his chest. Plutarch and Haymitch are sitting on either side of him. Plutarch sits with his hands clasped in front of him while Haymitch sits and pats Peeta on the back.

Marcus stands to the side and notices Tyler in the door. "I'm sorry Ty." He says as Tyler walks down the steps to stand on the sidewalk. Peeta stands and hands the bag back to Plutarch before slowly ascending the steps into the house. He walks like a ghost through the kitchen and down the hallway. He opens the door to his art studio and stands there, breathing in the scent of the paints…

Then he cries out and lashes his arms out to knock over several easels. He wipes all of the bottles of paint off the shelves and onto the floor. He takes the sketch books full of pictures of Katniss and rips them apart, throwing them in the fire. He snaps all of his brushes and plastic paint trays. For several minutes he stands in the middle of the mess, looking down at his bleeding hands before he finally collapses in a heap.

The clock out in the hallway tolls twelve. Lightning strikes a nearby tree.

* * *

><p>The morning of Katniss's funeral dawns gray and with the coldest temperatures District Twelve has experienced so far that winter. The wind howls and whistles through the chimneys and windows in the house in Victor's Village. Johanna peeks out her window, across the street to the Mellark house. She sees first Tyler and a girl she didn't know step outside, then Jesse and her boyfriend, Haymitch, and finally a very haggard Peeta.<p>

She smoothes her black satin dress one last time and buttons her black trench coat up tightly. She walks down the sidewalk to the justice building where the funeral is being held quickly, ignoring the questioning looks she is getting from townspeople that recognize her as the girl that tried to kill Katniss in the Quarter Quell and then died in the last Hunger Games. She rolls her eyes mentally and finds a seat in the banquet hall that is rapidly filling up.

There is a string quartet playing quietly in the background. People whisper to each other and hug and cry. Johanna looks over at two older women she recognized from her time living with people from District Twelve. They are sobbing and clutching each other's arms. They each are wearing the bengals that were made for the Girl on Fire during the Quarter Quell.

Everyone takes their seats simultaneously as the mayor steps up on the stage behind the podium and clears his throat. He delivers a short speech that Johanna doesn't pay attention to and then introduces the Mellark family, even though everyone knows them. Jesse, Tyler and Peeta walk in together, holding hands and taking their seats in the front row with Haymitch, Effie, Greasy Sae, Sonya, and Plutarch.

The mayor invites friends to come up and say something about Katniss. A lot of people are crying and offer silly trinkets to her family. Effie is crying so hard that most of the speech she prepared is unintelligible. Haymitch needs to be brought down from the podium because he is so drunk and can't stop talking.

Then Peeta stands up. He hasn't shaved in days and it's obvious he dressed himself. He clears his throat several times as he unfolds a crumpled paper. He looks out at the audience and makes eye contact with some important people. "You know, there were a lot of times in my life where I imagined myself reading a speech much like this one. Each time I've imagined it though, the speech has been different. In the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, when I barely knew her, I would've acknowledged that and said something kind about her. In the Quarter Quell, I would've said that she was love of my life. It evolved as I traveled through life by her side." He pauses. Everyone in the room is holding their breath, dreading what he'd be saying next.

"Now though, I have nothing to say. Words can't seem to convey how much I love her, how much I'll miss her, and how painful life will be without her. I thought, that after marrying her that would be enough and I wouldn't need anything else. But then she blessed me with the two greatest gifts I could have ever received: Jesse and Tyler. After that, I thought once again that it would be enough. I wouldn't need anything else in life. I was wrong, once again. There are so many more things I was looking forward to doing." He pauses again, to catch his breath and swallow. "Like see Jesse graduate from boot camp, or Tyler graduate from university overseas. Or maybe see both of our kids get married. Watch Haymitch get even older." He chuckles to himself. "And drunker." He adds. "See both of our kids get married, hold our grandkids.

"But she'll never get to do any of that. Only me. Most guys would probably be shattered to realize this but not me…no. Don't get me wrong, I'm heartbroken for losing my wife, but I'm more _pissed_ about it than upset." He says angrily. "Because someone actually had the nerve to take my wife away from me and think that they wouldn't be punished. I'm gonna wrap this up by only saying one thing, and boys I hope you are getting this on camera." He adds, pointing to the cameramen in the corner. They lift their cameras up higher and give him the thumbs-up. "Whoever did this, I'll find you. And I promise you that I will make you regret the day you were born. Because messing with me and my wife, that's the dumbest thing anyone can ever do. So I'm going to find you and I will kill you." He finishes and sits back down in his seat.

A hush falls over the whole banquet hall. People start whispering to each other and looking at their neighbors with suspicious stares. Johanna slides down in her chair.

**And that is it for this chapter! It was kind of lacking in action, I know. Please review though.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	34. Chapter 34

"_Don't pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." – Bruce Lee_

* * *

><p>The day after Katniss's funeral, while Tyler is at school, Peeta goes with Jesse to District Thirteen. After dropping her off at her apartment he goes to the hospital and meets Plutarch and Haymitch in the lobby.<p>

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Haymitch asks, eyeing Peeta carefully.

Peeta nods. "I have to this, don't I?" he asks.

Plutarch looks at Haymitch and back to Peeta. "You don't _have _to."

"I do. Or it'll be too late." He says, shaking his head.

"Okay, then let's go down." Plutarch says, leading them down the series of stairwells to the morgue. When they enter the large room, Peeta sees three large steel tables, gleaming under the fluorescent lights.

Plutarch leads them into a separate room with only one steel table. This one has a body on it that is covered with crisp white cloth. Sonya is speaking quietly to Effie and a doctor in the corner, using a manila folder to hide her mouth. "Out, all of you." Haymitch orders. They listen and hasten out of the room. Haymitch claps Peeta on the shoulder and walks toward the body.

He lifts up the cloth and pulls it back to reveal the face. "The doctors have done well preserving her and making her look nice for the reporters that insist on getting a shot of the body." He licks his lips and opens his mouth to say something but coughs instead.

"Any clues for who did it?" Peeta asks, not able to take his eyes off of the face.

Haymitch clears his throat. "No, we did a scan for fingerprints but found nothing. Whoever did this knows what they're doing." He answers sadly. "But we'll find them. That's a sure thing. It'll just take longer than you like."

Peeta shakes his head. "I don't care how long it takes, I just need to know." He says.

Plutarch sighs. "Well, as much as your son would like to prove it's Johanna, we interviewed her this morning and she's clean as can be. We'll keep her on the list for potential suspects but I doubt we'll find anything particularly damning. We even have records to prove that she wasn't even in District Twelve on the day…this happened." He stopped himself abruptly.

"Do you guys…would you mind if I could have a few minutes of privacy with my wife?" he asks.

Plutarch and Haymitch both nod respectfully and leave the room without saying anything else.

Peeta kneels down on the floor next to the steel table and takes one of her cold hands in his. He lifts it to his mouth and kisses the back. He uses his other hand to stroke her face. "Katniss." He whispers, his voice light as air. A tear rolls down his cheek. "Why'd you do it? Why did you have to leave me?" he asks, more tears beginning to flow. "We could've lived a long, happy life together. You knew that!" he suddenly exclaims, pounding his fist against the table.

"Peeta…" he heard someone whisper behind him.

He spun on the stool and saw Katniss standing there, looking at him with sad eyes. He stands and walks toward her. Every step he takes toward her though, she takes one back. "Please don't cry for me." She pleads quietly. "I'm happy here. More happy than I was there." She tells him.

"Why'd you leave?" he demanded.

"I did it to save all of you." She confesses.

Peeta's eyes get wide. "You know who did it?" he asks.

She nods. "But I can't tell you. I've been forbidden."

"Why?" Peeta asks.

"Because it's your mission in life to help people. Knowing the truth could destroy you." She hints.

"I love you so much." He says, looking her up and down. "Why wasn't that enough for you to stay?"

"It was. You have no idea how hard it was for me to leave you. But it's your love that gave me the strength to face the death that I endured."

"I wish it could bring you back." He says, more tears coming down his cheeks.

"Don't we all wish that?" she smiles at him sadly as crystalline tears roll down her own cheeks.

"Oh Katniss…" he whispers. "I love you."

"I love you Peeta." She says as he steps forward abruptly to embrace her.

But his arms close around the air.

* * *

><p>Several hours later Peeta is alone in his house, sobbing in a very cold bed. The front door slams shut and Tyler yells, "Dad, you home?"<p>

Peeta doesn't answer.

"Dad?" he calls again, slightly quieter. When there is no answer he says, "Okay, I guess you can come in. He'll be cool with it, I'm sure."

"Where do you think he is?" Julie asks, allowing Tyler to take her jacket off and hang it up on the coat rack.

Tyler shrugs. "Hopefully at the bakery. He hasn't been there since…you know." He says awkwardly. Julie nods and sits down at the table. "Do you want coffee, hot chocolate, tea? We're not a big tea family but I'm sure I'll be able to find some."

"Coffee sounds wonderful. No, hot chocolate. With whipped cream." She adds, smiling flirtatiously at him.

Tyler smiles back. "Coming right up."

"You're gonna have to learn to drink tea you know. It's all they drink over in Spain." She calls to him from the living room. She wanders around the room looking at the different pictures. She picks up the scrapbook and takes it back to the kitchen table. "What's this?" she asks Tyler when he returns with two mugs of hot chocolate.

"Oh, it's a scrapbook my parents put together shortly after the first rebellion. It's really cool. It has a bunch of tributes from the Hunger Games in it." He informs her.

She looks at him with curiosity. "Really? Our textbooks don't have anything about the individual tributes. Is this the Quarter Quell?" she asks, pointing to a hand-drawn picture of a beach.

"Yeah. It's weird, as big a role as the Games played in their lives, my parents never really talked about it in front of us." Tyler muses. "I guess, the memories are just too traumatic for them to share with us in full detail."

She looks up at him. "Doesn't it bother you though? That your parents are hiding stuff from you?"

He shrugs and smiles. "It's not important." He says as Peeta enters the kitchen, not really acknowledging the two teens. Tyler looks over his shoulder at Peeta when he hears the refrigerator open. There is the rattling of glass bottles before the refrigerator door closing. "I should go talk to him." He says to Julie.

She nods and brushes his arm with her hand. After he leaves she flips through the book more and gets to the section with the tributes from the Quarter Quell. The first one is a gorgeous young man with striking green eyes, named Finnick. The next one is an elderly woman named Mags. She flips through the different tributes, stopping on one that catches her attention.

Tyler sits down next to her again and says, "Sorry, I was just making sure my dad wasn't smuggling liquor to his bedroom." He notices her staring intently at the page in the book.

"Who is this?" she asks quietly, looking up at him with a strange look of in her eyes.

"Johanna Mason. Why?" He laughs at how absurd she is acting.

She licks her lip and looks between him and the picture of Johanna. "I saw her a couple weeks ago." She whispers.

"There's a death date in here Julie. It was probably just someone that looked like her." He assures her.

She shakes her head. "There's no way. I mean, she's aged a bit and she's a lot thinner, but I'm telling you: Johanna Mason is not dead."

He still laughs. "Okay, tell me where you saw her."

"Walking into Victor's Village. She went into the house directly across from yours."

His smile vanishes and he bolts out of his seat, forcing his chair to tip backward. He runs to the front windows and looks out the window to the house across the lawn from his. She is standing in the door, looking at their house with a creepy look on her face. "Is that her?" Tyler asks when Julie reaches him.

"Yeah. Have you talked to her?" she asks, looking up at him with fear.

He nods. "Yeah, and she was dragging a body across the threshold." He answers coolly, not taking his eyes off the strange woman looking at him.

**Please review! I'm warning you that my schedule is about to get really busy because I'm doing track _and _my school's musical so I may not be updating as quickly as you like but I promise you I'll try my best. There's still a whole lot left of this story so don't lose faith, please!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	35. Chapter 35

_God has three answer's to your prayers: yes, not yet, and I think I have something better in mind. – Anonymous_

* * *

><p>As soon as Julie leaves that night, Tyler runs over to Haymitch's house, a box of all the liquor from his house held tightly in his hands. He walks right in, not bothering to knock. Haymitch was carving an arrow at his kitchen table, his kitchen surprisingly clean.<p>

Tyler slams the liquor down on the table. "Take it all. My dad can't get anywhere near it." He says to Haymitch.

Haymitch stands and walks around the table, lifting up the lid of the box and peeking in, smiling satisfactorily when he sees how much liquor inside. "I didn't even know that you had this much liquor in your house. Are you sure your dad won't be missing it?"

"He can't have any." Tyler says.

Haymitch raises his eyebrows. "Maybe it'd be better if he did."

"No Haymitch. He still has two kids to take care of – kind of. I know it's silly but he's never turned to liquor before in his life so why should he now?"

"He's lucky to have a kid like you Tyler." Haymitch says. "Now, what do you want to tell me?" Haymitch asks, seeing through Tyler's nonchalant demeanor.

The teen sighs. "Look, I know I've asked you before but I'm gonna ask you again; run Johanna through as a suspect in the murder."

"Didn't Plutarch call you?" Haymitch asks.

"No."

He sighs. "He told me he'd be calling your house to tell you guys that the murder investigation has been called off. Your mom's death has been established as suicide."

Tyler stands in the kitchen and absorbs Haymitch's words for a few seconds. He finally refuses. "No. There's no way my mom would kill herself. She had no reason to."

"Well, there's no sign of physical abuse anywhere on her body, just internally. And besides, who are you to be accusing people of murder?" Haymitch challenges

"It's my mom!" Tyler exclaims. "I'd be an idiot to not find out what happened."

"No, you'd be an idiot to believe that you can actually meddle with a government investigation. Johanna has been pronounced innocent several different times."

"But she's in love with my dad! She had every reason to kill my mom." Tyler objects.

Haymitch shakes his head and exhales dramatically. "You're not getting it Tyler. She arrived here in District 12 two days after your mom died."

"But Julie—" he begins. Haymitch cuts him off though.

"But Julie shouldn't be involved either. I don't care about whatever code you think your mom left behind for you to solve. You think Peeta didn't tell me about that? He did. And he's right, it means nothing." Haymitch says coldly. "Now get out of here before you piss me off even more." Tyler sighs and walks out, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

><p>That night, while Tyler is doing his homework, the doorbell rings. "Hey. Let me take this for you." He hears his dad say. Tyler didn't even know his dad is downstairs as opposed to being in his parents room.<p>

"Oh thank you." Johanna says. Tyler vaults off of his bed and grabs his cell phone off of his desk, dialing his sister's number.

"Hello?" she asks.

"Jess, it's me. We've got a big problem." He says hurriedly.

She sighs. "Oh Lord. What is it this time Tyler?"

"Johanna is here for dinner!" he whispers angrily.

There's an awkward pause. "So?" she finally asks.

"You don't think she killed Mom?" he exclaims and then lowers his voice quickly. "I thought you were all for it."

"Tyler, I'm kind of disconnected from it all since I'm here in Thirteen. I've just let it go." She tells him.

"But Jess, you're the only person that believes me." He complains.

"What about Julie? Besides, I never _really _believed you because I never thought you'd be stupid enough to meddle with this stuff." There it is again, people telling him that he's stupid for meddling.

He doesn't say anything for a while. He eventually bids goodnight quickly and hangs up, not waiting for her to say goodnight. Peeta calls for Tyler again and he goes to the top of the stairs and yells down. "Dad, can I eat dinner up here? I've got too much homework." He calls down.

"Come get it yourself." Peeta says. Tyler sighs and curses to himself. He pounds down the steps and stomps into the kitchen. Peeta stands at the sink washing dishes while Johanna sits on one of the stools at the counter across from the sink, clutching a glass of wine. The same way Katniss would sit while Peeta was making dinner.

Peeta passes Tyler a plate of food and says, "Ty, this is Johanna. Johanna, this is my son Ty. She's an old family friend." He explains to Tyler.

"Oh yeah. I've heard all about you." He nods.

"Only good things I hope." She smiles falsely.

He smiles. "Would my dad ever lie?" he jokes easily but his body stays tense.

She smiles bitterly. "Peeta was just telling me about your acceptance into the school in Spain. I'm sure you'll love it there. I know your father and I really enjoyed it." She says.

"You went to Spain with him?" Tyler asks suddenly, his calm façade leaving.

Peeta interrupts Johanna. "Yeah, we all went with Plutarch and Haymitch. Your mom was there too." He adds.

Tyler nods and looks suspiciously between Peeta and Johanna. "Well excuse me but I have work to do."

* * *

><p>The next day Tyler walks into the library to meet Julie for a study date. He slams his textbook down on the table. "Hey! Watch the coffee." She says seriously, gesturing to the full mug sitting precariously close to the edge. She glances up briefly from her notebook and sighs. "What's wrong now?"<p>

"Do you think I'm obsessed with the whole murder thing?" he asks. "And please tell me the truth."

She shakes her head and sighs. "Do I think you're obsessed? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Considering you have no expertise other than watching that old CSI show I'd say yes, it is pretty bad. But I also think you'd be crazy to not be obsessed with this."

"So then you think I should do something about Johanna?" he asks as she sips her coffee.

She swallows quickly and holds one finger up to stop him. "No. That's where you need to draw the line. I'm sorry Ty but Johanna has been proven innocent on multiple occasions."

"Julie," he half-whispers, half-moans, "You have to help me."

"Why? I have nothing against Johanna and neither do you! There's no reason for me to frame her." She explains.

"But we wouldn't be framing her. We'd be proving her guilty. There's a difference."

"Maybe to you but not me. Look, I said I'd look at the code for you but that's it. It's more than enough at the moment anyway." She says definitively, returning her attention to her notebook which Tyler sees is covered with the numbers from the code.

He sighs and checks his cell phone. "Anything about Johanna in there?" he asks reluctantly.

Julie refuses to answer. "Is that your dad?" Tyler nods. "What does he want?" she asks, keeping her eyes down.

"Just wants me to take a shift at the bakery this afternoon." He says, typing an answer. "Shit. I hate the keyboard on this new phone. I always mess up R's when I'm typing them. Okay, seven, three." He says to himself.

"What did you just say?" she asks, her head snapping up to meet his eyes.

"I always mess up with typing R's?" he repeats, confused.

She counts something in her head and looks back down to her notebook. "Can I see your phone real quick?" she asks, holding her hand out. She looks at the keyboard when he hands it to her and she looks at him with a wondering gaze. "I think I just cracked the code."

**I know it's been a while but I've been so busy with track practice and musical rehearsal and I know it's short but I'm trying my damndest to get these updates posted ASAP. Please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	36. Chapter 36

_Something always brings me back to you. It never takes too long. No matter what I say or do, I still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone. – Sara Bareilles_

* * *

><p>"Um, my house is this way." Tyler says, motioning to the pathway that goes across the large grass lawn to his house. Julie keeps walking down the sidewalk though.<p>

"I know. But her house is this way." She says without missing a beat, continuing until they are in front of Johanna's house.

"Julie, we can't be here." He whispers frantically, about to pull her back but she stomps up the steps, her boots clacking on the stone. She swings both legs over the railing and stands on the window ledge, crouching down so she can look inside.

She sighs and laughs in spite of herself. "Calm down, she's not home." With that said she leaps down from the ledge and walks around to the back of the house and looks in the back door. "Yep, definitely vacant." She says to Tyler, who followed her around the back of the house. She takes out a hairpin and unlocks the back door. "You coming or not?" she challenges, slipping inside before he can answer.

"This isn't a game." He whispers furiously when he steps inside.

She starts ruffling through a stack of mail. "It's an adventure. It should be exciting, right?" she asks with an exhilarated smile plastered on her face. She puts the mail back just the way it is and creeps down the hall. "Wow. This house is exactly like yours."

"That's great, now let's get out of here." He says, not following her down the hall.

She opens the door to the cellar and flicks on the light. "Creepy. Is your cellar this creepy? I bet your dad fixed it up or something." She comments, peering down the long stairway. Tyler finally walks to her side and looks down.

"I don't think we should go down there." He says.

"We need proof that this code is valid, right?" she asks.

"It won't be very good proof if we broke into her house to find it!" The lock on the front door clicks. "Shit, downstairs now!" he orders quietly, turning the light off and shutting the door silently behind him. He activates the flashlight on his phone and leads Julie down the stairway.

They emerge in a large, open concrete cellar. Light pokes through small windows sitting right at ground level. He runs to a closet and throws the door open, about to step inside when he notices Julie on the other side of the cellar. There are footsteps overhead.

"Julie! Get over here now!" he whispers to her, his voice sounding louder than he liked.

She stays still, looking at what looks like large brass sink in front of her. "Tyler, why is this the only thing down here?" she asks quietly.

He runs over to her as she bends down to look closer at the sink. "This is blood." She whispers with fear in her voice. "Tyler, its blood. This thing is covered in blood." She starts to shake and she gets pale. "I don't like this adventure anymore." She adds.

The footsteps get closer to the door to the cellar so Tyler fairly drags Julie to the closet. Once inside he flicks the light off of his cell phone and backs up but his foot catches something kind of hard. He bends down and feels the large, curved object in his hands. Julie finds the light for the closet and turns it on. "What is that?" she breaths.

Tyler turns it over in his hands, inspecting it closely. Finally he looks at the bottom and nearly drops it. He looks down at the floor and sees what the uneven surface is that they are standing on. He takes a step back and feels something behind him vibrate. A golden mockingjay lights up in the corner of the closet. "This is a sheath. We are standing on arrows. And that is my mom's bow."

Julie gasps but Tyler clamps a hand over her mouth. The door at the top of the cellar creaks open. He holds his breath and fights the urge to move his feet, keeping his hand over Julie's mouth. The door slams shut and they can hear footsteps walking overhead and then the front door closes. He waits for several minutes before leaving the closet. "What about the arrows?" Julie whispers.

Tyler doesn't answer. He walks up the steps and out the back door, waiting for Julie to steps through before locking it behind them. He storms around the house and across the stretch of grass to his house.

"You're acting like you don't even care anymore." She calls out behind him. He turns in time to see the sadness in her eyes disappear in the dim light of twilight.

"Yes, until it go dangerous. But now…she killed the best hunter in the country! Well, one of the best but still…I don't want to mess with her." He argues.

"She doesn't have to know it's us." She says desperately. "Please Ty."

"No." he says, shaking his head. "I can't. Maybe if Jesse could help but Julie, I'm leaving in two months anyway and I've never killed an animal bigger than a squirrel."

"No one ever said you have to kill her. Just turn her in."

He keeps shaking his head. "That's not good enough for me. I need her to pay for what she did to my mom."

She laughs hysterically. "Then I don't know what to tell you." She spreads her hands and walks away, down the street.

When Peeta gets home that night he starts cooking dinner. As he is waiting for the soup to warm up he goes upstairs to Tyler's room. "Hey." He says, opening the door. "How was your day?" he asks.

"Fine." Tyler sighs.

"Did Julie come over?" Peeta asks.

Tyler hesitates and looks down. "Yeah." He eventually says. "She did."

"And?"

"And…I don't think she's going to be around again soon."

Peeta nods. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." He pauses. "You know Ty, you have to know that when it comes to girls—

"Dad, you've already told me everything I need to know, okay? So just stop trying to give me advice. Please." He says coolly. He instantly feels bad about saying it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." He quickly apologizes.

"It's okay Ty." He says quietly but Tyler knows it is not okay. "Your sister is coming home tomorrow so make sure you clean the bathroom in the morning. Johanna is coming over for dinner if you would like to join us."

"I'm really tired actually. I think I'm going to go to bed." He says, sliding beneath the covers and turning his back to Peeta.

He nods. "Okay." He sighs before going back down the steps to the kitchen.

Tyler watches the moon slip across the sky through his windows, tossing and turning and listening to Johanna and Peeta laugh downstairs. Thoughts of Julie invade his mind ceaselessly, not allowing him any peace through the night. He keeps replaying their last conversation through his head, trying to figure out where exactly they went wrong.

Just yesterday they were smiling and having a good time. All of days spent in the courtyard of the school eating lunch; playing cards, trying to throw blueberries in each other's mouths, doing homework. The thought of how perfect they are for each other crossed his mind multiple times a day and he constantly found himself brainstorming ideas for how to propose to her or wondering what their wedding would be like, what their children would look like. He could see her so easily at the kitchen counter sipping a glass of wine while Tyler made dinner just like his mom always did or her working at the cash register in the bakery once he takes over for his dad.

He hears the front door slam and knows that Johanna has left. But then he hears whispering and a quiet laugh, followed by a soft shush. There are quiet footsteps ascending the steps and down the hall, past Tyler's room and into Peeta's. The door shuts quietly.

Suddenly, Tyler is full of rage. He cannot contain it. There's a bang in the room next to his but he doesn't take the time to go see if Johanna has killed his dad or something of that sort; he slides out the window and leaps into a tree, climbing down to the ground. He sprints to Julie's house, located in the part of town that used to be the Seam. The houses are still pretty run-down but are nothing like they were when his mom lived there.

He pounds on her door, relief flooding through him when she answers. It quickly disappears when she tries to slam the door shut. "Wait!" he huffed, not being in as good of shape as his older sister. "Just, please let me apologize."

She presses her lips together tightly and opens the door slightly.

"You're right. I should be more proactive. It was just a lot to handle. I mean, I had found hard evidence that Johanna actually—" she presses a hand over his mouth to stop him.

"My parents are right inside." She says, grabbing her coat from the rack behind her and stepping outside. She pulls the door shut behind her and takes Tyler's hand. "I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I just loved your mom so much; she was an incredible person. It made me mad that someone would do this and I wanted justice." She pauses and they stand in silence. Finally she says, "So what now?"

"We go back to her house to get the evidence." He says decisively.

"Where is she?" she asks. "Are you sure she isn't there?"

He nods. "She's currently having sex with my dad so I don't think we'll have to worry about it."

She stands still for several moments. "Ty, I'm sorry."

He shakes his head and smiles slightly. "He's probably drunk or something. I can't resent him for wanting to fill the gaps in his life with another woman. Especially when he has no idea that she's a psychopath."

They walk quickly back into Victor's Village and to Johanna's back door. Julie unlocks it again and waves him in. "I'll go get the bow and arrows. You stay up here and guard." Tyler says, slipping his hand out of hers and going down into the cellar.

She wanders around the boring living room, picking up little knick-knacks here and there but nothing really catches her attention as more evidence. She pokes around the kitchen, searching for any knifes that maybe have a little blood left on them. The phone rings and she freezes. She can tell Tyler is still downstairs too. She is standing just a few feet from the phone itself so she tiptoes over, eyeing it suspiciously.

It rings four times when finally the person calling leaves a voicemail. "Johanna, its Gale. I'm just making sure you have gotten rid of the bow and arrows. I'll have the poison that will take out the rest of them in no time."

Julie stands frozen for several more moments before sprinting to the steps. Tyler is already there with the bow and arrows in hand. "Come on!" he yells, no longer worried about subtlety. He has the sheath of arrows over his shoulder and the bow gripped tightly in one hand, taking Julie's hand in the free one. Once out the backdoor they jump off the deck and run into the woods, completely black in the darkness of night.

They take a circuitous route around Victor's Village that lands them behind Haymitch's house. "Wait, I can't run anymore." She says, starting to cough. She lets go of his hand and stops running. Tyler stops too. "Tyler…" she pants. "Gale…I thought he was dead."

He's shaking his head and also breathing heavily. "I don't know." He breathes out. He puts his hands on his hips and paces in Haymitch's back yard. "He was…I've seen his headstone but I guess it's just like Johanna; they brought him back."

"Can they do that?" she asks.

He shrugs. "They can do anything they want." He answers sadly.

"Did you hear what he said? About the poison?"

"Yeah." He nods. "Come on, we gotta talk to Haymitch." He says, grabbing her hand and walking her around the house to Haymitch's front door, not bothering to knock; he just walks in. "Haymitch!" he calls out.

The old man sits up on his couch, gripping his bottle tighter. "What now, kid?"

"We've got the evidence you need." Tyler says, dropping the bow and arrows on the table.

Haymitch stands up and walks to where Tyler is standing. "Where'd you get these?"

"Johanna's house. Before you say anything, just know that if we hadn't broken in we would've never found these. There's something really wrong about her too. She has a cellar, just like you do but _there's nothing in it_. She has a tub but it's coated in dried blood. Then there was a closet and that's where we found these." He explains.

"And while we were just there," Julie jumps in, "she got a phone call from Gale. _Gale._"

"Like, the dead one?" Haymitch asks.

They both nod affirmatively, too anxious to speak.

"What'd he have to say?"

"That he hopes she'll have the bow and arrows out son and that he'll have the poison to kill Peeta, Jesse and Tyler in no time." Julie answers quickly.

Haymitch plops down into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. He buries his face in his hands. Julie also sits down. Tyler gets a bottle of water for her and sits down next to her, starting to worry about the ashen color of Julie's face.

Finally Haymitch looks up. "Alright, listen to me real closely. This is dangerous stuff you're dealing with here. Johanna is a killing machine. If she finds out that you two have broken into her house she'll slit your throats in your sleep."

"I sleep with a knife." Tyler cuts in.

Haymitch ignores him. "I'll keep these and you two go home and get in bed before she can realize that you were gone." He says, the last part referring to Tyler.

He nods. "Thank you so much." He says, taking Julie's hand and walking out.

* * *

><p>Johanna rolls over, keeping the down covers close to warm her chilled skin. She kicks some out of the way to get close to the bedside table to look at her cell phone, buzzing madly. She reads the caller ID. Looking over at the drugged Peeta she gets out of the bed and pads quietly into the bathroom. "What?" she demands quietly.<p>

"You've moved her bow and arrows, right?" Gale asks.

"I'm getting to it, why?" she tells him.

"I think you had some visitors in your house tonight."

She freezes. "What are you talking about?"

"I called and I could hear someone breathing near the receiver."

She nearly drops her phone. "Why'd you call?"

"Because I need to know your progress."

She laughs. "Look, the Capitol didn't bring you back to check up on me. They need you as a weapon, okay? So let me deal with the field work and you sit back and watch me do it." She says angrily before hanging up.

But the next morning, when she gets to her house, she knows that she too had some visitors because she checks the closet in the cellar and finds it is empty. "Shit." She whispers.

**What's Haymitch going to do with the bow and arrows? Is he going to turn Johanna in or will he get rid of them? And what is the deal with Gale?**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	37. Chapter 37

_Music's in my soul, I can hear it everyday and every night; it's the one thing on my mind. Music's got control, and I'm never letting go no, no. I just wanna play my music. – Jonas Brothers_

* * *

><p>At the same time Johanna is having a conniption over the missing bow and arrows, Tyler is woken up by someone jumping up and down on his bed. Expecting it to be Julie he rolls over and pulls a pillow over his head. "C'mon Ty! Dad is making waffles…with blueberries!" Jesse shakes his shoulders.<p>

"Jess?" he groans, lifting his head and struggling to see her without his glasses.

She sighs. "Yeah, yeah, it's me. Don't be so excited; I don't want you to wear yourself out." She pauses. "Don't you remember Dad saying that I'd be here?"

"Vaguely." He says, reaching over to his bedside table to put on his glasses. "How've you been?"

She looks over her shoulder at the door and then back at Tyler. "Honestly, I haven't been able to get Johanna out of my head. Have you found anything?"

"I thought you said you didn't want to help." He says, confused.

"I changed my mind. The truth is that I just wanted to forget the whole thing but I've found that pretty difficult to do. So tell me, anything I should know?"

He nods slowly. "Yeah. Julie and I, uh, found evidence that she's the murderer."

She sits back and looks out the window, studying the woods sitting beyond. Then she looks back at him and away quickly. "Well. That's…that's quite a big deal. Have you turned her in?"

He shakes his head. "We gave Haymitch the evidence. And Gale is somehow involved."

"Gale? I thought he was dead."

"Just like Johanna." He says spitefully. "I was planning on talking to Haymitch about it this morning if you'd like to come. Julie is going to be there too."

"Can I invite Marcus?"

"Of course."

She smiles grimly. "Then I'm in."

At noon the group of teenagers is gathered around Haymitch's kitchen table, the bow and arrows sitting in the middle. Haymitch paces in the kitchen, the counter separating him from the group. Finally he says, "I've put a lot of thought into this." He walks around to the table and pinches the bridge of his nose in one hand while resting the other on his hip. "I decided that as much as I would like to turn Johanna in, it is ultimately your father's decision."

"What?" Tyler exclaims.

"Just let me explain." Haymitch answers calmly. "When your mother was still alive and long before you two rug rats came along Peeta swore to always take care of her. I think that still applies. If he wants justice for her death, then he'll have it but only if he wants to deal with those repercussions."

Jesse is shaking her head. "You know he'll say no."

"Probably because he's smart, unlike all of you." Haymitch says. "He knows that if he were to march into the Justice Building with these weapons and turned Johanna in, the press would be swarming your family. And if he knew that you _all_ are still in danger of Johanna, he won't put you into that position."

Tyler sighs. Julie squeezes his knee under the table. She gives him a look that he can clearly translate as _We'll just have to catch her ourselves then_.

Marcus nods to Jesse and she also sighs. "Fine. I guess we'll be talking to Dad tonight then." She says to Tyler.

Haymitch takes the bow and arrows and sets them in the closet nearby. Jesse frowns at Tyler, who was about to say more to Haymitch. Haymitch sits at the head of the table and looks at them seriously. In a hushed tone he says, "I don't know if anyone is listening into our conversation but I believe someone needs to bring down justice on Johanna. She'll be out of District 12 by nightfall and that is far too soon for us to turn her in."

"So what do we do?" Marcus asks.

Haymitch looks each one of them in eye and says, "You must go after her."

"Go after her?" Jesse repeats.

"By the time 13 has soldiers out in the field tracking her, she will be fifty miles away. At least. You four going after her is the only solution."

"Why don't we just head her off?" Julie asks.

"Because Haymitch wants to know what she's up to." Jesse answers, eyeing Haymitch. "Or…no, not Haymitch; Plutarch."

Haymitch nods affirmatively. "Exactly."

"So, what? We're just sneaking out?" Julie asks, excitement lighting up in her eyes.

"You'll leave tonight at eight."

"We're starting at night?" Marcus asks. "Seems risky."

Haymitch shrugs. "Why do you think she's leaving at nightfall?"

The teens look at each other for several moments. "Well I'm up for anything." Julie says.

"Me too." Marcus seconds.

Tyler is holding his sister's gaze, knowing what this could mean for both of them. For her, she could be kicked out of the military. For him, he could lose his scholarship. For all of them, they could be killed. Or worse. He slowly nods as the fear in her eyes turns to determination.

"I'm in." she says confidently.

* * *

><p>As night falls over District 12, Jesse offers to cook dinner for Peeta. He quickly agrees and sits on the sofa, watching the TV. Tyler hides in the closet behind their father's normal place. Jesse slips sleep syrup in the bowl of lamb stew she made for Peeta. He takes his seat at the table. He takes a spoonful of stew and puts it in his mouth. He immediately knows what is in it. "No!" he exclaims as Tyler bursts out of the closet and claps a hand over his mouth.<p>

Jesse sits and closes her eyes as Tyler releases his unconscious father. "Like mother like son." She whispers spitefully. Then she stands and writes a quick note on the notepad on the counter. _Dad, we're fine…promise. Going on a little adventure. Talk to Haymitch. Love always, Tyler and Jesse _

Tyler retrieves their packs from the closet and hands Jesse the bow and arrows. She slides on Katniss's leather jacket and slips the sheath of arrows over her narrow shoulders. Tyler takes the guns out of the safe in the closet and puts them in the belt he took from his father's closet. They step out on to the sidewalk and Jesse stops, looking up at their house.

"You sure you want to do this?" he asks her.

She nods and smiles grimly. "Just taking one last look." She sighs.

He looks down at his boots and tries to hide the tears filling his eyes. "Do you think this is how they felt?" he asks, not needing to explain who _they _are. "When they left for the first Games?"

Jesse smiles more genuinely. "And the Quell?" she pauses. "Something like it." She muses, looking up at the house one final time before walking down the sidewalk that led to the back of Victor's Village, more commonly known as the East End.

The two slipped through the woods quietly, circling District 12. They met Marcus and Julie in the meadow, where they took a quick inventory of their supplies. Julie was in charge of getting food, Marcus survival supplies, and Jesse and Tyler took care of weapons and miscellaneous supplies. They all walk to the fence together and stop, sizing it up and then looking at the woods beyond.

"I've never been back here without Mom." Tyler says.

"I've never been back here at all." Julie admits.

Marcus and Jesse look at Tyler and then back to Julie. She scurries under quickly and quietly, leading the group. Marcus follows her and just as Tyler gets down on the ground Jesse pulls him back up by the elbow. "If she dies…" Jesse says. "She has no idea what she's getting herself into."

"I know. I'll protect her, okay?" he says, pulling away and crawling underneath the fence. After several minutes of walking they emerge from the trees and are overlooking the valley. The have friendly conversation with each other but it is soon interrupted by the snap of a twig.

"What was that?" Julie immediately asks.

Peeta emerges from the trees, hands deep in his pockets. "You still have a few things to learn. Like how much sleep syrup it takes to knock out a fully grown man."

"Shit." Tyler whispers.

"And you also shouldn't talk in such an open area. Sound travels a lot farther than you think." He continues.

Marcus nods and clutches his gun closer to his body, suspecting it's a trap. "Right. Of course sir."

"Don't 'Sir' me. What you all are doing is reckless and irresponsible and dangerous…yet so chivalrous and I won't let you come home until you're done this mission." He adds. "Did you all really think that no one knew you were going? Plutarch has planned this."

They all look at each other. "Wait, so you mean Haymitch didn't come up with this?"

"Of course not. We wouldn't dare put four amateur – well, really three – soldiers on such a dangerous mission. Don't worry, I'm not coming with you. This kind of stuff is a little after my time. But there are some things I have to tell you." They all nod in agreement. "Johanna is going to lead you on a wild goose chase. There are soldiers stationed all around the country that will keep you updated on her location. She will never be totally free; there are too many soldiers and Peacekeepers involved with this mission. When you get to the Capitol, you will set up base camp with the other soldiers. Jesse, you are going to join the attack they are planning on the Capitol."

"Why are they even attacking the Capitol?" Tyler asks.

"No one has had word with the Capitol since before Johanna escaped the hospital in Thirteen. Then Johanna kills…and then there's a phone call from Gale, who has been dead for over thirty years. Or so we thought. Something is going on out there and we need to destroy them before they destroy the country." He explains.

"How long has this been planned?" Jesse asks.

"The summer." He confesses. "Don't give me that look. Why do you think they moved you through all of those training levels so quickly? They wanted you prepared."

She huffs. "Oh my gosh. So you all have been playing us? As soon as I joined the army you started planning this. You've been planning out all of my promotions. What else have you been planning? Did you plan for Johanna to escape? Did you plan for Mom to die too?" she demands.

"Jesse." He says.

"Just tell me. Did you plan for Mom to die?"

"She knew she was going to die, yes." He confesses.

"That's why she left the code."

"A code that you all created for us to confirm it was Johanna and be motivated to run away." Tyler adds.

Peeta sighs. "I know I can't apologize for any of this, but please take this Jesse. It's already programmed for you. Haymitch will communicate with you all through it." He says, putting the Advanced Holo on the ground and walking back into the woods.

**So what the Hell just happened? Please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	38. Chapter 38

_There's no such thing as impossible. The word itself says I'm Possible. – Audrey Hepburn_

* * *

><p>Jesse fumes as she takes the lead of the pack. They begin to descend the mountain, entering the valley before she finally lashes out and throws her knife into a nearby tree. "Jess." Marcus sighs. "Calm down."<p>

She turns on him, eyes blazing with fury. "Calm down? How would you feel if your dad told you that he knew your mom was going to die? How would you feel hearing that and seeing that he did nothing? Nothing!" Another knife sinks into the tree. "He's a traitor to the rebellion!" she screams.

"Jesse, you're going to give us away." Tyler warns nonchalantly.

"Then let her find us! She deserves to die a painful death." She answers.

Marcus, Tyler and Julie look at each other sadly before Marcus walks toward Jesse. "Stay away from me." She mumbles but he ignores her, wrapping her in his arms. She begins to sob.

"Maybe we should set up camp for the night." Julie suggests. Tyler nods in agreement and sets his backpack down, getting a small ax out to chop firewood. "Do you need help with that?" she asks him as he swings the ax into a nearby tree.

He throws most of his weight into the swing of the ax. "Nope. I just…I need to sort through my anger a bit." He looks over to where his sister is still sobbing but hasn't let go of another one of the knives she packed. "But not like that." He says, smiling grimly.

"Something isn't right about this." Julie whispers. Tyler looks over her shoulder at Jesse and Marcus before looking back at her.

Then he says loudly, "This tree is no good. Let's go find another." They walk so they are out of ear-shot of Marcus and Jesse.

Julie says, "Something wasn't right about your dad."

"I know." He nods.

"We should go back." She proposes.

"What?" he demands. "Look, I'll agree that something was off about my dad but we have to keep going."

She grabs him by the shoulders. "Tyler, do you really believe that your dad would be okay with your mom dying? You've seen all of those replays of the three years they were in the games; he nearly died on multiple occasions for her. Why would he just let her go now? And then he is perfectly okay with his two children – the last reminders of his love for Katniss – go on a suicide mission?"

He shakes his head. "But we can't abort it now."

"I don't think that was your dad." She says suddenly. "You said Jesse gave him two tablespoons of sleep syrup?"

"Yes." He says, starting to get impatient.

"That's more than enough." She looks over her shoulder in the direction of Jesse and Marcus. "What if that was a clone of your dad or something and he's driving you into a trap?"

He snorts. "Right, and what if my mom really isn't dead?"

"We all thought Gale was dead. We've seen him die." She points out. "Did you ever actually see your mom's body?"

"No, but my dad did." He says.

"And he hallucinated, didn't he?"

He furrows his brow. "What are you getting at?"

"Someone's been messing with all of you. Big time. I think it'd be best if we got you home, ASAP." She tells him.

He stands quietly, looking blankly at the woods around them for several minutes. He finally says, "Okay, but how are we supposed to convince my sister of that?"

"First, we have to get rid of the Holo. I don't like the idea of us being tracked." She admits.

"How are we supposed to get back?"

She shakes her head. "We can't go back right away." She sighs as if she has just thought of something else. "We have to find a way to prove that your dad wasn't himself. Hard core evidence that it was a clone."

"And where can we find that?"

"Where does the Capitol keep all of their prisoners?" she asks him.

He sighs and tilts his head back. "Forget it. It's impossible."

"We at least have to try."

"It's a torture chamber. We'd be putting our own lives at risk going in there." He says, brushing past her and stomping back toward his sister but her voice calls him back. "I heard its right outside District Eleven. Probably right around here. No sense in going back when we're so close."

He turns and looks her up and down. "Why are you so adamant about all of this?"

"I told you." She says, walking up to him. "I like a good adventure."

They rejoin Marcus and Jesse who have separated and are unpacking their bags. "Julie has an idea." Tyler announces to the two of them.

"I think we can all agree that something was not right about Peeta back there. I'm convinced that the Capitol has replaced him with a clone or something. So we should go back and watch him, see if there's anything else seemingly wrong with him. Before that though, we need to go to the Capitol Prison to see if your original parents are in there, being held captive." She explains.

"The Capitol Prison?" Jesse repeats. "That's in the Capitol."

"Jesse, I think you'd be surprised to hear that I know the Capitol's big dark secret that apparently only victors know." She says smartly.

"You blabbed?" Jesse asks Tyler, who smiles.

"Please, like Marcus didn't hear from you." He says easily. Marcus nods and shrugs.

"I think she could be right Jess." Marcus says. "I mean, what if your mom really isn't dead? What if it's some stunt Johanna and Gale tried to pull?"

"But why would they do that?" she asks, crossing her arms.

Tyler looks at her seriously. "The same reason Mom and Dad almost killed themselves in their first Games, the same reason she was the symbol of the rebellion; to stand up against the Capitol!" he exclaims. "So they grab all of the most prominent Capitol workers and throw them in the arena that only they knew about because only they knew that not all of them were destroyed! And who was at the top of their list? Mom and Dad."

Jesse looks between Tyler, Julie and Marcus. "And why would they leave us alone?"

"Because the Capitol hardly knows we exist. They've never really acknowledged our existence." He explains.

"Is that what you want Ty? For the Capitol to recognize you as the boy who broke into the arena?" she asks him.

He shakes his head. "No. I just want Mom and Dad back."

She sighs and takes out the Holo, looking at it for a long time. "Then I guess I have to destroy this." She says.

"No. Just leave it there. Let them come find us." Tyler challenges.

Jesse bends down and reaches into her backpack, pulling out the Holo she stole from her parents' safe in the art studio.

"You knew all along." Marcus says.

"I would've said something eventually." She smiles at him deviously. "Now let's go find this arena." She pulls the map up on the Holo and studies it. "We'll know we're there when the instruments start to go crazy."

"Um…how do we even get in?" Tyler asks.

"We'll have to find the chinks in the force field." Jesse answers.

Julie gasps. "That could take days!" she exclaims.

"We don't really have that luxury though, so we're gonna have to split up." Marcus says for Jesse. "I'll be with Jesse, you and Tyler will be together." He tells Julie. "Hey Jess, do you think if you climbed a tree high enough you would be able to see the dome?"

She pauses next to a particularly tall tree and looks up into the branches. "Keep a close eye. I'm not real comfortable with our proximity to the old Holo." She says, tightening the strap for her sheath of arrows. "If I shoot an arrow into the air I could find the force field by the electric shock it gives off." She says to the group as she begins to climb. "Just get ready to run because they we won't have much time after I give away our position to get there."

Once she is up in the tallest branches she looks out into the valley. She slides an arrow out of the sheath, a fire arrow, and aims into the sky. She releases the bow string and is startled when a fire starts in the air not thirty yards in front of her. The fire spreads down to the ground about twenty feet in front of the tree she is in. "Run, now!" she yells down to them. "Directly in front twenty feet." She tells them as she slides down the tree.

As soon as her feet touch solid earth she pulls out an explosive arrow and aims at the spot where the fire is spreading and eating the force field. "Heads!" he warns, but the arrow merely burns a large hole in the force field. "Come on!" Tyler yells, waving Julie and Marcus in. Jesse slips in with Marcus on her heels when the force field behind them seals up.

The sun is shining brightly overhead, making it difficult for them to see at first. The muggy air instantly overwhelms them with sweat. "Good thing we brought water." Marcus says, his eyes being the first to adjust. "Which arena is this one?" he asks.

Jesse walks toward a tree, walks around it for a bit and then looks around at the rest of the woods, which resemble the woods they were just standing in. "This is the arena from Mom and Dad's first year." She observes. She pulls out her Holo to double check. "Yep, the river and lake, the open fields, the mountains. I would recognize it anywhere."

"Great, then we know where they should be hiding." Tyler says, setting off toward the river.

"Wait, what if we come across an insane prisoner?" Julie asks.

Jesse turns to her and hands her a knife. "Hope you hit your target." She says simply before brushing past and catching up with Tyler. "We have to find that cave." She says quietly. "And then see if there's anyone else we may know in here."

Tyler whispers back to her, "And what if they're not there? Getting in was the easy part compared to what is left for us to do now. And we don't even know what is waiting for us in these woods."

"We'll find out eventually."

"There aren't any parachutes either. We're totally on our own." He reminds her.

She stops him by grabbing his elbow. "Ty, I know. We can do this though." She is looking at him seriously and doesn't even notice the darkening sky.

"Uh, guys, I think we have to run." Marcus says loudly. They both turn to see he's pointing up to a large orange glow.

"Oh no." Jesse whispers.

"This is…it's the exact same arena." Tyler says.

"Run!" Julie screams, grabbing both of them by the arm and pushing them forward as the fire bares down on them.

**Okay, so three quick things:**

**Finally saw the Hunger Games yesterday, it was AMAZING!**

**Another movie I watched is Midnight in Paris and I recommend it for anyone that likes classical authors like Fitzgerald or Hemmingway. **

**I just got a new computer and it has Microsoft 2010 on it and I have no idea how it works. I know how 2007 works but if you have 2010 I would really appreciate some pointers/tips.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	39. Chapter 39

_Flash back to a girl with a song in her heart as she's waiting to start the adventure. The fire and drive that makes dreams come alive, they fill her soul. – Katherine McPhee_

* * *

><p>They all run away from the flames, knowing that faltering just a little bit could result in the loss of life. They move quickly and quietly through the trees, leaping over logs and diving behind rocks when a fireball comes near. The smoke threatens to suffocate them as they push themselves faster through the tangled web of foliage. As they leave the part of the arena where the fire is always burning they are trapped by thick smoke. "Hold your breath!" Marcus coughs out to them.<p>

They all suck in one last breath and crash through the trees blindly, losing control of most of their senses. The roar of the fire behind them deafens them and the smoke makes it impossible for them to see where they're going. Without knowing, Julie and Jesse are running in a different direction than Tyler and Marcus. The smoke begins to clear around the two girls and they stop running once they're out, laughing hysterically. Then they realize the boys are not with them.

At the same time Tyler and Marcus crash into the river, soothing minor burns they had earned when the slowed to help one of their companions. "Where…?" Marcus coughs out, running a wet hand over his face.

"Tyler!" they hear one of the girls yell.

"Julie?" he yells, not thinking about whether or not there are people around them. The boys climb out of the river and walk back into the woods, calling out the girls' names.

Finally they find them, about two hundred yards away from the river but none of them aware of it. Julie runs up to Tyler and fairly collapses in his arms, tears making streaks in her grimy face.

"We have to keep going." Jesse says, keeping one arm around Marcus for a while before stepping away from him. "We can't go back that way. You both were making too much noise yelling our names; there may be mutts sniffing our trails as we speak."

The woods are silent around the group of teenagers. Remarkably, they all possess the ability to walk without making a sound. Jesse keeps her bow loaded and Tyler has a firm grip on his knife, throwing knives being his best defense. "Do you hear that?" one of them will say occasionally as a scream pierces the quiet air around them.

"It's eerie." Jesse finally muses. They all agree but don't dare say anything more. After walking for nearly six hours they have yet to find the river. They decide to stop and rest for the night as the sun is now going down and the temperatures are plummeting. Tyler leans against a log and wraps Julie in his arms, taking out a blanket to cover her. Marcus lies with his head in Jesse's lap, eyes closed, asleep within seconds. Jesse and Tyler both know that sleep is in impossibility for both of them so they don't even try. They both maintain a steady watch throughout the night, burrowing closer to their sleeping companions when the air gets even colder. Screams also continue through the night, each one more bone-chilling than the last.

When the sky turns gray in the morning a dazed Tyler shakes Julie awake as Jesse does the same with Marcus. They take out some dried fruit and beef jerky for breakfast and feast quietly. By the time they leave their campsite the sun is poking through the trees and the air is getting progressively warmer.

They walk for another two hours, still not finding the river. Finally they see a thinning in the trees and realize they've reached the clearing. A mutt is attacking a man instantly recognizable as being from District Eleven because of his dark skin. Jesse is compelled to walk toward the Cornucopia, not paying the mutt much attention as she strokes the hot metal. "Why hasn't it noticed us?" Julie whispers quietly.

"Because it's not supposed to. We don't have trackers. They don't know we're here. We're just ghosts to them." Jesse explains, her voice nearly silent.

"Where to now?" Marcus asks.

Jesse looks down to the lake and the trees beyond. "We follow the river. That will take us to Mom and Dad." She says, hitching her backpack up higher on her shoulders as the walks to the shoreline.

Julie sways after taking a couple steps, holding a hand to her heart. "What's wrong?" Tyler asks instantly.

She shakes her head and smiles at him faintly. "It's nothing, just a little lightheaded."

"Probably from the smoke." Marcus says, watching her carefully.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Promise." She assures Tyler as she continues on slowly.

Jesse waits impatiently down by the shore for them to catch up. "We can't afford to lose any daylight. We have to make it to the river by the afternoon, that way we have all day tomorrow to search for Mom and Dad." She commands.

They make slow progress along the lake, not reaching the actual river until twilight. They rest often for Julie but she grows weaker by the hour. By the end of the day Tyler has to carry her. They set up camp behind large boulders and Jesse even pulls out a lantern, keeping it on low so it casts ghostly shadows on their faces. They snack on some of their last dry fruit, looking at their food supply sadly.

"We've been wasteful." Marcus says, crumpling up an empty jerky bag in his hand.

Jesse sighs and chucks the four empties she has been holding. "They call it the Hunger Games for a reason." She whispers.

"You look whipped. Go to sleep and I'll take watch." He volunteers.

"You sure?" she asks. She knows there's no point in arguing because she is pretty tired. Tyler is already huddled up next to Julie but seemingly wide awake.

"Yeah, I've got Tyler to keep me company." She knows that Tyler probably won't be awake for long but she hands Marcus her bow anyway. "Look carefully before you shoot."

He nods. "You've got it." She rests her head on his chest and falls asleep almost instantly. The night is not as cold as the one before. Jesse starts to shiver though, so he unzips his jacket and tucks her inside with him.

Jesse wakes up as the sun begins the rise. "Let Tyler and Julie sleep a little while longer." She tells Marcus, noticing Julie's pale face.

He agrees. "There's something you should know about Julie." He whispers to Jesse, stroking her hair. "She has a heart condition."

"What?" Jesse gasps, sitting up. Tyler shifts but stays asleep.

"She was born with it. But it's serious. The doctors expect her to die in the next few years. That's why she wanted to come." He tells her.

She looks over at her brother sadly. "Tyler…" she whispers, knowing just how much he loves Julie.

Marcus nods. "I just thought…well, you should know that she is effected more by smoke and stuff than the rest of us." He informs her.

She nods quickly, still looking at her now stirring brother. His eyes open and he instantly looks over at Julie. "Julie…" he moans, shaking her shoulder.

She doesn't wake up.

"Julie?" he asks, desperation creeping into his voice.

She still does not move.

"Julie! Julie, wake up!" he says, moving so he's crouched over her. He shakes her more forcefully. Jesse and Marcus mover closer too. By now Tyler has realized that Julie won't be waking up. "Julie…" he sobs, looking down on her face. He rocks her in his arms and cries, his tears splashing down on her face.

Tyler takes Julie's body and walks it down close to the river. He leaves it on a smooth, flat rock. He wanders to a nearby patch of wildflowers and drapes her body with it. He finds a large piece of wood and lays her on the top. He sings her the Valley Song before slipping the wood into the river where it begins to float downstream. He touches all three middle fingers to his lips and lifts them to the sky.

Marcus and Jesse watch quietly before Jesse finally goes and wraps her arms around her brother. He cries wholeheartedly, her own tears mixing with his. Marcus follows Julie's body partially down the river. He is eventually cut off by a particularly large rock and knows that he cannot go any further.

As he turns to walk back something catches his eye. The old remains of a silver parachute, just enough silver catching the light through the rust for him to notice it. He walks toward the parachute and then sees the rock that he knows leads to the cave where Jesse's parents hid in their first Games. He walks silently down to the mouth and pokes his head in.

**So, Julie was a character I created in memory of one of my friends, also named Julie. She was on the dance team with me at our school and was incredible. A few days before Christmas of 2011, she passed away suddenly due to a heart condition. She'll always be in my heart. Rest in peace girlie and keep reppin'.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	40. Chapter 40

_Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. – Chris Tomlin_

* * *

><p>Marcus takes Tyler's backpack in addition to his own and leads the group back to the cave. The bow is humming softly in Jesse's hand, possibly sensing that the rightful owner is near. She signals to Marcus to let her lead when the cave comes into sight. "Mom? Dad?" Tyler calls out. Marcus quickly clamps a hand over Tyler's mouth.<p>

Jesse kneels behind a bush that is directly across from the entrance of the cave, waiting for a sound to come from the cave. Nothing. She holds her position, arrow poised. The silence is deafening. Someone finally leaps out of the cave, arrow aimed directly at Jesse's heart. "Mom?" she asks, not lowering her own bow.

It's undeniable yet slightly questionable. Katniss has lost an exorbitant amount of weight. The bones in her hands and arms are sharp and jut out obviously. Her cheekbones are prominent, the purple shadows under her eyes almost looking like bruises. "Jesse?" she whispers, like she doesn't believe it.

Jesse nods and lowers her bow as she rushes forward and embraces her mother. She steps aside to allow her brother to hug Katniss next. "I can't believe. When I heard him call I thought it was just a hallucination." She says quietly, her voice raspy. "Why are you guys here?"

"We're breaking you all out." Jesse says confidently as Marcus walks toward them. Katniss grabs Jesse and Tyler and pushes them toward the entrance.

"We can't talk out here." She whispers. "The trees have eyes." She adds ominously. When they all crawl inside the cave they see that it has been enlarged. "Plutarch has been a genius with expansions." She says when she sees their bewildered faces. "Peeta! Peeta, they're alive!" she exclaims, running over to where their father is lying on the cave floor.

"What?" he moans, raising his head slightly. "Jess, Ty?" he asks. Jesse instantly knows that her father is sick. Deathly sick. He is covered in sweat but shivering and like their mom he has lost too much weight.

"Dad…" Tyler whispers, halting his steps. "What's happened to…" he doesn't finish.

Katniss leans close to Jesse and Marcus. "Tracker-jackers; they're everywhere. He got stung a lot. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to give him. The leaves haven't done much to lower the fever." She says to them sadly. She sits next to Peeta but not too close, scared that her body heat will warm him up even more. "Now please tell us what you're doing here." She pleads.

A very thin Plutarch joins the circle. Jesse is getting the impression that no one has eaten a good meal in a long time. "There are some huge problems back home Mom. There's another rebellion going on. Or so we think."

"A rebellion?" she repeats. "We can't have another one!"

"I know." Jesse nods. "But this time it's the Capitol fighting for more power. That's why they took you guys; they wanted to get the strongest fighters out of the way but didn't want to kill you either."

"When did you figure all of this out?" Marcus asks.

"Last night." She tells him. "They replaced everyone with clones – except for Haymitch – and they've been trying to get Tyler and I killed."

"Clones? How did they do that?" Plutarch asks angrily.

"Never mind the clones, who is 'they?'" Katniss asks.

Jesse sighs. "I'm not totally sure but from what I can tell, Johanna and Gale are part of it." She says.

"Gale?" Peeta croaks out, his eyes flashing out at the mention of the name.

"There's no way." Katniss is shaking her head.

"Just like there's no way Johanna is still alive? Anyway, Johanna killed the Katniss clone to make Tyler and me suspicious. Then the Plutarch clone closed the murder investigation and that just egged us on. Haymitch was the only one totally on our side. Then the Peeta clone started flirting with Johanna."

"And slept with her!" Tyler adds angrily.

Peeta's eyes widen. "I slept with Johanna?" he asks, exasperated.

"Not you, your clone." Tyler assures him.

"Go on Jesse." Katniss urges, unconsciously rotating her wedding band on her finger.

"Okay. So the Peeta clone…" she sighs, searching for the right words, "had close communication with Johanna. Then Tyler came up with this crazy code that…he cracked and then he found your bow and arrows hidden the Johanna's cellar. He convinced me to talk to Haymitch and he told us to go on this crazy mission to chase after Johanna, who had run away when she realized we were actually on to her. When we left though, the Peeta clone caught up with us and wasn't even mad about us running away to our deaths. That's how I figured out that he wasn't the real Peeta. We all knew that there was really only one place you guys could be so we came. And here we are."

"Where does Gale come in?" Plutarch asks.

"He called Johanna and said something about having poison sent to her for me and Jesse." Tyler explains quietly.

Katniss, Peeta and Plutarch sit quietly, absorbing the whole tale. Finally Katniss says, "Did you bring any food?"

Jesse looks at the adults sitting in front of her and knows that she has to sacrifice their last bit of food to feed them, especially her dad. Marcus is already reaching into their backpack and handing over the last bits of dried fruit and jerky. Katniss snatches it out of his hand and then peers at Jesse carefully. She hands Plutarch the food and orders him to divide it up, giving Peeta a larger portion. "You and I need to have a talk." She says, grabbing Jesse's hand and leading her into one of the tunnels extending from the cavern they were just in.

They walk to the end of the tunnel. "Why haven't you guys eaten?" Jesse demands.

"When we were thrown in here they gave us a knife and a backpack full of food. We didn't realize that there's no game in here." Katniss confesses.

"Then what have you guys been eating? Or have you not been eating at all?" Jesse gasps.

Katniss sighs. "I've been doing my best to kill the mutts but they're mutated and don't have much meat. It's been all I can do to keep Peeta conscious." She whispers, running hands up and down her arms. "Other than that we haven't been able to find anything edible."

Jesse notices a puckered wound on Katniss's arm. "Did you cut your tracker out?"

"We all did. There's a whole group of us in here." She tells Jesse. "There's a healer, Radiance, and her son Jacob. They're both from District 2 and were put in here for rebelling. Then there's this old geezer, Anthony, who watched his whole family die before he was put in here. There are two brothers, Ronny and Donny. They are from District 1 and would have made perfect Careers."

"And now there's me, Marcus and Tyler." Jesse adds. She sighs. "I'm sorry to burden you guys."

Katniss shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. Being stuck in this arena again is enough of a burden. I was actually about to go on a hunt for mutts with Donny and Jacob. You wanna come?"

"Sure." Jesse immediately agrees, following her mom back to the main cavern. Katniss kneels down next to Peeta and kisses his forehead lightly.

"I'm heading out." She whispers to him. "Watch him. If anything happens, signal me immediately." She says to Plutarch, who nods in reply. They then walk out of the cave and meet Donny and Jacob. Donny is big. He is over six feet tall and weighs around two hundred and twenty pounds, but it is all muscle. His shirt is hanging loose on him, either from being stretched out or him losing weight Jesse can't decide. His auburn hair is obviously not the usual length. He has a fine layer of stubble on his jaw that somehow brings out the green in his eyes.

"Baby Mellark. I've heard so much about you." He says, taking Jesse's hand and kissing the back.

Katniss rolls her eyes. "He's our comic relief." She explains quietly.

Jacob steps up to Jesse. He is smaller than Donny and has dark skin that slightly resembled the people in Spain. His hair is jet black and falls around his face perfectly. His eyes are just as dark, the pupils nearly invisible. "Jesse, right?" he asks, holding out his hand.

Her face flushes at his charming smile. "Yep, and you must be Jacob."

"Of course I'm Jacob." He says, his smile getting wider. Jesse gets confused by his comment and tilts her head to the side, looking over at her mom.

Katniss clears her throat. "Can I have my bow now?" she asks Jesse.

Jesse jumps, forgetting that the bow doesn't belong to her. "Right, here." She says, passing it over and taking the bow Katniss had made when she first got thrown in the arena.

**Katniss**

Several hours later we return with nothing. No food to bring home to the people hiding in the cave. While we were gone though, Tyler had done some magic on Peeta. When I return, my husband is sitting up on his own and has a lower fever. His face isn't as pale but I know it will be pale due to the lack of food.

We sleep curled up next to each other, happier than we ever had been in the arena. We don't have to worry about Jesse and Tyler being taken care of at home or whether or not they are dead. Now we just need to worry about getting them out alive.

"Katniss?" Peeta whispers. "Are you still awake?"

I sigh. "No."

"I'm sorry about the Johanna thing." He apologizes. "Don't say that it isn't a big deal because I know that you are pissed. Just…just remember that it wasn't really me."

I untangle myself from his arms and sit up, not looking at him. "Peeta, I know it's not your fault." I hesitate, trying to gather my somewhat jumbled thoughts into coherent sentences. "It's just that you two have a history that doesn't necessarily make me feel more secure that you wouldn't do it."

"I wouldn't!" he exclaims quietly, rising up on to his elbows. "I feel nothing for her, you know that."

I nod. "I do. But like I said, you two have a history." I pause. "I'm not holding this against you though. You knew nothing about your clone. It's not fair for me to hold it against you."

"There's one more thing." He prompts. "While you were gone and I started to feel better, Tyler went off into the corner and sat alone. Now, I know, he's not a social guy but it was the look on his face that had me worried. It turns out that four of them came on this trip."

"Julie…" I whisper, the pieces fitting together in my head. "Did they not know about her heart condition?"

"Marcus did. He feels awful that he didn't say anything sooner but they got stuck in the fire and it must have been too much for her. She was gone by morning. Apparently, while we were gone, Ty's relationship with her grew. She solved the code and broke into Johanna's house."

"How's Ty doing?" I ask, looking over to where he sleeps across from us. His back is turned to us so I can't see his face.

"In shock, most likely." Says Peeta. "I feel so bad for him. No one should have to go through that at his age."

"We did." I say quickly. "Every year at the reaping."

"But this is different. They were close friends and he didn't even expect it." He defends.

I nod. "You're right. What do you say we get some sleep and then talk strategy in the morning?" I ask.

He smiles grimly at me and pulls me back close to him. "I love you." He whispers.

Since he's been sick for about two weeks this is the first time I've heard that in a while. "I love you too." I quickly peck him on the cheek and he is quick to return the kiss, this being another thing I've missed for these past few weeks. For the first time since I've been imprisoned, I allow myself to hope. Because I have my family with me, healthy and willing to fight.

**Not much to say but Spring Break baby! Review please. Oh, and Happy Easter.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	41. Chapter 41

_Don't be a girl that needs a man, be a girl that a man needs. – Unknown_

* * *

><p><strong>(Quick AN: The rest will be from Katniss's POV, like in the books.)<strong>

The next morning dawns cold with pouring rain. I know this is bad news because the rain means that the mutts are caged up for the day and there is absolutely no food. What was left of the food Jesse and Tyler packed was given to Peeta, but it was still only a few berries. It's like the first time we were in this arena, but we know there's no silver parachutes…so no hope either. Whatever food we eat we have to catch first.

I wake up when I feel water trickling against my elbow and forearm. I look and see it dripping in through the entrance. I nudge Peeta and we get to work with sealing up the entrance the way we do when it is raining. Within minutes we are both shivering and can't feel our arms so we move into one the cavern with the fire pit in it and light a fire. The others start waking up and entering the cavern, drawn in by the warmth.

Marcus produces some extra coats and blankets and sleeping bags, giving them to Radiance and Plutarch first. Peeta politely declines but I give him a look that makes him cringe and accept the blanket begrudgingly. Once everyone is awake and somewhat warmed up, we sit and start to formulate a plan for our breakout.

"Can't we go out the way we came in?" Jesse asks, blowing into her hands.

"We've tried setting the force field on fire; it's stronger on the inside than out." Plutarch explains.

"But what about the explosive arrows?" Peeta asks, wrapping his arm tighter around me and rubbing my arms to warm me up. I had sacrificed my blanket to give to Radiance who was not adjusting well to the cave style of life.

I shake my hand. "No. The people controlling this arena are probably smart enough to build the force field to withstand that." I say. "But there has to be a way out. Otherwise the mutts would be in here to whole time."

"Then why don't we track one?" Marcus suggests.

Jacob laughs. "Go ahead, see how far you get." He sneers.

"Maybe there's another cave somewhere?" Donny asks.

Plutarch shakes his head. "This is the only cave in the arena. They could not have possibly changed it either." He points out.

"Maybe there's a way to get out through the metal plates." Jesse says. "Maybe…maybe we could blow one up and open the tunnel down to the ground and get out through there."

The group is silent for several moments as we all consider that possibility. Finally Plutarch says, "Yes. Yes, I think that could work. Of course, we'd be walking straight into Capitol territory but we'd still get out." He says hopefully.

"We can take care of that when the time comes." Peeta says confidently. I look up at him and he smiles at me but I can still see that carefully monitored fear in his eyes.

"So when are we getting out of here?" Ronny asks.

Everyone looks at me, as if I am the one calling all of the shots. But it dawns on me: maybe I _am_. In which case, I need to display some real leadership. "Okay. Well we can't last in here without food for more than three days before we get too weak to do anything but wait to die a very slow death. We should do this ASAP. And at night because we know the mutts go in for the night."

"What if they're in the tunnels though?" Marcus asks, drawing a circle in the dirt with his finger like he is bored.

"Then we are shit out of luck." Tyler sighs. Peeta gives him a look for cursing but he just shrugs indifferently. "I'm gonna go take a nap." He says. He stands up and walks out of the cavern while brushing off the back of his pants.

Peeta opens his mouth to protest but I shake my head. "Just let it go." I tell him.

"Maybe it's time I go talk to him." He suggests to me. I nod encouragingly. He pats my shoulder and follows Tyler out.

"What's wrong?" Radiance asks, watching him leave.

I shake my head again. Jesse says, "His girlfriend died."

"Jesse." I warn. "Sensitivity."

"Okay, fine. His girlfriend had a heart condition and passed away suddenly yesterday morning. That better?" she asks me.

I sigh and roll my eyes. "Look, what we need to figure out is what we're going to do back in District 12. Hypothetically speaking of course because there's no guarantee that we'll get out alive. But I can't just go walking down the street because everyone thinks I'm dead."

"And it'd be too risky about for Dad to go in because people could easily recognize the fact that he's in two places at once. People think you two are incredible but not you're not that awesome." Jesse adds.

Plutarch nods. "And then there's you and Tyler and Marcus. If the Peeta clone sees you three he'll probably go ballistic."

"Hang on." I interrupt quickly. "What was the purpose of getting you guys out?"

"They want to do something to the Capitol. We've already discussed this." Jesse tells me.

I shake my head and fixate my gaze on a pebble a few feet in front of me. "No. They're not messing with the Capitol but…District 12."

"What would they want from District 12? No offense, but it's not a very valuable district." Jacob says.

I nod. "Yeah. We have to get back there ASAP." I mumble to myself. "Ronny and Donny can pretend to be Peacekeepers and act like they picked up Tyler, Jesse and Marcus out on the border of District 10." I announce. "And then they can act as spies and report to us regularly."

"Where will you guys be?" Jesse asks.

"I'm sure Plutarch can find a place for us in District 13." I assure her.

She shakes her head. "But we don't know if Peeta and Johanna have messed with them or not." She says. "If they have, then you have basically nowhere to go. The whole country thinks you're dead and Peeta is half-crazy."

"Um, sensitivity?" I repeat to her. "Never mind. We can camp out in the woods."

"And Radiance, Anthony and Jacob? What're you going to do with them?" she reminds me.

"They can move into Victor's Village. Radiance's aunt was Enobaria. Then they can also be spies."

"As long as Johanna doesn't get to them first." She mumbles.

I look over to Plutarch. "Any advice? Pointers, something I left out?"

He deliberates for a couple seconds before nodding. "Yeah, we should also see if Jesse and Tyler can set up surveillance in your house and the bakery. I don't see a problem with me going back to 13 so I can watch from there."

"I could go back to 13 with you. I think Tyler can handle things back home with six people there to help him." Jesse suggests.

Donny quickly interrupts. "I'm having trouble with impersonating a Peacekeeper. That's against the law, punishable by death." He points out.

"So is rebellion." I say and he shuts up. "I like your idea Jesse. Anyone else have a question?" I ask. When no one speaks up I nod and smile at everyone. "That settles it. Tonight we are breaking out of here."

**Do you think their plan will actually work? Review please! And I'm sorry it's so short. The chapters may be a bit shorter from now on depending on how much time I have.**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	42. Chapter 42

_I said remember this moment in the back of your mind. That moment where we stood with our shaking hands and the crowds and stands went wild. – Taylor Swift_

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><p><strong>I know it has been a really long time since I last updated! I am so sorry but between track and the musical I'm in for school, I've barely been home at all. And then I had this chapter typed up and our brand-new computer had a freak melt-down so now I need to remember what I wrote and try my best to redo it. Again, I am so sorry!<strong>

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**

I hold my breath as I pull my back, aiming at the same silver platform I was lifted into the arena on during my first Games. I could sense Peeta holding his breath too behind me. The others are concealed behind the bushes behind me about twenty feet. I exhale as I release the arrow. It hits right on target and the silver platform ignites in a great ball of fire and smoke. As the smoke clears I yell from everyone to run to the hole left in the ground from the explosion.

Jesse ties a rope I had made throughout the night from some nearby vine onto a large rock that had been dislodged. She climbs down first with Marcus on her heels. Peeta and I stay at the top and usher people down. There's a howl in the distance. "Wait, where's Tyler?" Peeta suddenly says, looking at me with fear in his eyes.

"I'll go find him, you get down there now!" I order, not allowing him to argue before running out of the clearing, shouting Tyler's name. "Tyler!" Over and over again I yell and there is still no answer. Finally, when I reach the river, he answers back.

"I had to say goodbye to Julie." He looks at me desperately. "One last time."

"We don't have time, the mutts have been freed." I tell him, pulling him up from the water by the elbow and hauling him in front of him. I give him a harsh shove in the direction of the clearing.

"No! I can't leave Julie!" he begs, turning and trying to get past me.

I grip him by the shoulders. "Tyler, we don't have time. We have to get out of here." He pushes against me, almost making me fall. "Ty! Get a hold of yourself. We have to go!" I yell, dragging him by the elbow through the thick and muddy foliage. He finally gives in and stumbles along behind me.

Peeta still hasn't descended down into the hole when we enter the clearing. I hear a smash behind me followed by loud footfalls. "Peeta, get down, now!" I cry. "The mutts!" I yell, trying to make him understand the sound that I know he cannot hear.

When we reach him he grabs Tyler by the shoulder and pushes him inside, then doing the same to me. I watch as he briefly disappears and comes back, pulling a rock over the hole after climbing in. I propel down, careful to not kick Tyler.

The launch room is dark, casting shadows on all of our gaunt faces. I find Plutarch near the back of the group and ask, "What's next?" Peeta taps my shoulder and aims his eyes to the corner of the room, where there is a small red light flashing. It's barely noticeable.

"On second thought, I've got a plan. Follow me. Jesse, give me the Holo." I say, taking it from her and walking toward the open door. There are heavy footfalls thundering over our heads, dirt showering down in some places between cracked tiles in the ceiling. "It's just the mutts." I say to Tyler, seeing the fear etched in his eyes.

I proceed slowly out into the dim hallway, bow loaded and poised for any threat that came close. "Arm yourselves." I quietly instruct.

Jesse has my homemade bow and Peeta, Marcus and Plutarch have the guns Marcus had brought. They all draw their weapons and lock them. I take a right in the hallway and follow a hallway with no more forks in it. There is daylight at the end. "Be careful up here, we don't know if anyone is out there waiting for us." My fingers tighten around my bow as I step slowly, carefully and silently out into the open air. I'm met by the lively sounds of that woods surrounding District 12.

"Why wouldn't they have someone doing surveillance out here?" Donny whispers.

I shush him quickly, trying to block out the other noises so I can focus on one close by. A faint buzzing. Not like tracker-jackers, more mechanical. I walk in the direction of the sound and wave a hand behind me at Peeta to tell him to not follow me. I circle a tree multiple times before finally figuring out that it is above me.

Before I can even look up there is a loud gunshot, followed by the sound of a bullet hitting metal. I crouch down behind the tree with my bow poised but I only see Jesse holding her gun aimed at the buzzing above me. She lowers her gun and shrugs. "I thought you'd appreciate getting rid of all of the cameras before anyone can realize you've escaped." She says smartly.

I roll my eyes and sigh, pulling out the Holo. "Okay, we need to South East to get to the part of the woods outside 12 we will be camped out in. We have about four hours until sundown, and we have to cover ten miles in that time. Anyone who isn't up to that can stay here and try to survive by yourself." There isn't an answer. "No one? Well then let's make some moves." Peeta and I automatically assume the lead, followed by Plutarch and Tyler, Radiance and Jacob, Anthony, Ronny and Donny, and Jesse and Marcus bringing up the rear.

We walk in silence for about an hour and before we come across a stream. I decide to take a short break for freshing up. Peeta pulls me aside so we are concealed behind some trees where he gathers me in his arms. "Katniss…" he whispers into my hair.

"Peeta." I sigh, burrowing my face into his hard shoulder.

"Katniss…" he says again. "We're going home." His words take me back to another time. A time where I had no idea what life would lead to, a time where I had no idea how different a person I would be thirty years later.

But that time so long ago that he'd said those words was a time where I was so filled with happiness when I had no hope of ever being happy again. He had always been able to fill that gaping hole in my heart where happiness belongs, even after all we've been through.

**Was the end to OOC? I really just had no inspiration for this chapter so I'm sorry if it was weird and kind of inactive. Please review though!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	43. Chapter 43

_I'm just a little bit stuck in the middle. Life is a maze and love is a riddle. I don't know where to go, can't do it alone I've tried and I don't know why. – Lenka_

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><p>"This uniform is itchy." Ronny whispers. I whip my head around to give him a mean look, making him laugh.<p>

I roll my eyes and sigh. _Just a few more minutes and you don't have to deal with him anymore._ I think. I hug Jesse and Tyler one last time before watching them walk into town, followed by Ronny, Donny and Marcus. Anthony, Radiance and Jacob have already gone into Victor's Village to move into one of the houses.

I laugh as Jesse loudly complains about Tyler stepping on her foot. Peeta comes up behind me and loops his arms around my waist. "You wanna go see if my clone still wraps up the extra bread at the end of the day and leaves them out for starving families?" he teases.

"Mm, as tempting as it sounds I think we should wait for Tyler to get us some food." I tell him, lifting one of his hands up to kiss the back. I look over my shoulder to where Plutarch is sitting by the fire and whisper, "And we're kind of alone, so do you want to take advantage of it?"

He follows my gaze to Plutarch and nods. "Sure." He claims his arms back but keeps one of my hands, leading me to Plutarch. We sit by the warm fire and look into the flames, waiting for him to speak.

Finally he says, "You two have raised a couple of great kids."

Peeta nods and I smile. "Thanks." We both say. "These past couple years have been rough on them though." I say.

"Of course not. But their your kids, no one could guarantee an easy life for them." Plutarch tells us.

"Touché." Peeta whispers.

* * *

><p>Jesse and Tyler trudge through a fresh few inches of late winter snow back to Victor's Village. They pause outside Haymitch's house and observe that all of the lights are off. "Where is everyone?" Tyler asks, referring to the people that are usually milling about.<p>

"I really hope they're all at home." Jesse replies quietly. "C'mon. No use delaying this." She says, ascending the steps in front of their house. Ronny and Donny step in front of Jesse and Tyler, Ronny knocking on the front door lightly. Donny holds Jesse by the elbow, trying to look threatening but he is the softer of the twins. "It's okay to have a strong grip. I'm not that breakable." She says to him.

He smiles faintly at her and returns his attention to the door that is now opening, revealing Peeta and a very drunk Haymitch. "Yeah?" Peeta asks.

"Mr. Mellark, we picked these two up outside District 11. They were hunting for game illegally." Ronny explains in an authoritative tone.

"Marcus?" Peeta asks Jesse.

She clears her throat. "He wasn't with us. They sent him straight home."

Peeta nods, taking Tyler by the shoulder and pulling him inside. "Thank you gentlemen. I'll punish them accordingly." He offers to the two Peacekeeper imposters.

They nod and walk away. Jesse holds Donny's gaze before stepping inside, shaking out her elbow like she was in pain from Donny's tense grip. "Look, Dad, I'm so sorry. We should've been more careful." She starts to say to the clone.

"Go to bed, both of you and we'll talk in the morning." He instructs. Tyler and Jesse have a brief, silent exchange before Tyler sighs and goes up the steps.

Haymitch notices Jesse standing in the kitchen and says, "Welcome home sweetheart. I have to say, your mom was a lot better at the covert stuff. And she was nationally famous." He says drunkenly.

Jesse rolls her eyes and follows her brother's lead up the steps. She pulls him aside when they get to the landing and whispers, "What now? This wasn't the plan!"

"I know." He says calmly, looking nervously down the steps. "But we have to go along with it."

"He knows something is up. I could see it in his eyes." She says.

He nods. "Why would he just let us go? If he knows something is up, why would he let us just go when he knows we could run off again?"

"Because he's got something planned already." She whispers, the epiphany sweeping over her. "Contact Mom and Dad and Plutarch; tell them the clone is going to try to do something tonight. Then call Jacob and tell him to watch the house." Tyler nods affirmatively and hugs her.

"Sleep with one eye open Jess." He instructs.

She nods and walks down the hall to her room. She goes to her desk chair and strips down to slip her pajamas on. The moon slips out from behind the tree by her window, casting abstract shadows across her bed. She listens carefully to Tyler in the room next to her and hears him go to bed too. She doesn't hear Haymitch anymore but she assumes he has passed out because she never heard the front door open or close.

Finally, around midnight, Peeta comes up the steps. She lays on her back, the most vulnerable parts of her body exposed. The clone will have no idea that this is not her usual position to sleep in like her real dad would.

The floorboards outside her door crack.

Her door creaks open.

Five light footsteps toward her.

The sound of steel scraping against something, like a sword being unsheathed.

The cool press of metal against her jugular…

Several things happen at once. Jesse reaches up and grabs his wrist as someone bangs through the door and grabs him from behind, throwing him on the floor. Jesse grabs the gun hidden under her bed as there is some scrappling on the floor by her bed and aims it at the clone, who is pinned down by Peeta. Or Peeta is pinned down by the clone.

Katniss and Tyler appear in the doorway, both armed as well. They are instantly as confused as Jesse. "Katniss, shoot him!" the Peeta on the bottom yells, trying to fend off the other Peeta.

"No, don't listen to him!" the other Peeta orders.

Katniss is frozen in the doorway, bow and arrow poised. Finally the Peeta on the bottom grabs the other Peeta and hoists him up, holding him in a choke hold. The Peeta in the choke hold starts gasping and sputtering but the other Peeta doesn't loosen his grip one bit. "Katniss, c'mon, shoot him." He orders gruffly.

The other Peeta who is still choking looks at her, terrified. The moment seems to stretch on for hours. Finally, the choking Peeta nods to her and draws an invisible X on the other Peeta's hand located by his throat.

An arrow is released and lands takes down the Peeta that was choking the other Peeta. A bluish liquid leaks from where the arrow hit the clone in the temple. Katniss rushes toward her real husband and collapses on the floor next to him. "I don't know how I would have ever shot you during the Games. That was hard enough." She says, wrapping him in her arms.

He nods, not being able to manage any other response.

"Does this mean we're safe?" Tyler immediately asks.

"Plutarch is downstairs reviving Haymitch. Who knows where Johanna is but we'll take care of her if we need to." Katniss says. "We'll deal with her and make her pay for all she has done."

**I know it's an awkward ending but the chapter was starting to kind of lag a bit. Today was special Olympics and it was so much fun! I got to help my school through the track team and was buddied up with one amazing kid. I'll be real busy getting ready for the big championship meet I'm throwing javelin in next week but I'll try my best to get an update up for you guys. Please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	44. Chapter 44

_Kill me if you dare. Keep my head up everywhere. I'm the underdog, live my life on a lullaby. – Kasabian_

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><p>"It's weird being in here after being away for so long." Peeta says as I make up some herbal tea for him. "I mean, we've been gone for extended periods of time before but we've never had to reclaim our children or house when we get back." He adds.<p>

I nod in agreement. "Peeta, you know what tomorrow is, right?" I ask him.

He thinks for a couple moments before grinning at me and saying, "Thursday."

I roll my eyes. "Yes, but it's also Independence Day." I remind him. He sits quietly and thinks about it for a couple moments. Then he shifts his gaze to me.

"What are we gonna do?" he asks. Every year we usually just stay inside because reporters camp out in front of the house, hoping to talk to us about the rebellion and the Mockingjay's life now and all that.

I shake my head and sit down at the counter next to him. I rest my arms on the granite countertop and put my chin on them, looking out the front windows at the distant houses across the lawn. "I've got a bad feeling about the celebrations tomorrow. Like, it's almost too perfect of a situation for Johanna to make her next move."

"But how long do you think it will be before she notices her clone is gone? When she finds out that she's alone she'll get desperate and then will start to crack." He says. "And you know why the Careers were so successful in the Games? They knew how to kick someone when they were down."

I stand up and take his empty mug to the sink. I grab a bottle of liquor from the fridge and pour two separate glasses, placing them in front of him. I down mine and swirl it in my mouth. "So what you're saying is that we need to take care of her when she is her most dangerous. You know Johanna is just more rabid when she's down." I remind him.

"I think the two of us can handle her." He assures me, taking smaller sips out of his glass.

I shake my head. "I'm not so sure."

He sighs and opens his arms to me. I look over and roll my eyes, standing and then sitting on his lap. He wraps his arms around my waist securely and swivels back-and-forth slightly on the stool. "Why don't we just save our worries for tomorrow?" he suggests.

"Peeta, we're not going to have sex with Tyler and Jesse both here. And don't forget about Haymitch sleeping up there too." I say.

He laughs quietly. "I wasn't talking about that. I just meant that worrying right now won't get anything accomplished this late at night, sitting in the kitchen drinking. Especially you missy because just the slightest bit of liquor makes you scary." He jokes.

"Shut up, you fool." I whisper, twisting in his arms so I can kiss him. We kiss for a while but I start to get a kink in my back so I stand up, not separating my mouth from his for one second. We both move over to the couch and collapse there, kissing a bit more fiercely.

My mind starts to wander to other times we've kissed, for some reason going back to the time we kissed before our third time through the Games. I think of Johanna and Gale, how she killed herself when Gale was shot…how Plutarch planned for her to die like that. Oh my god. I pull away from Peeta and gasp, looking out into space.

"What?" Peeta demands, sitting up while running his hands up and down my waist. "I didn't bite you did I?" he asks, his eyes worried.

I ignore his question and say, "Peeta, what are the chances that Plutarch had the chip removed in Johanna's arm after our third Games?"

He looks at me like I've grown another head. "Are you serious?" he asks. "Katniss, that was like, thirty years ago." He says.

I stand up and walk to his studio and pull on the book on the only remaining bookshelf in the room. Peeta has followed me. I turn to him as the bookshelf slides aside and say, "Seriously Peeta, they almost forgot to remove ours. It wasn't until we reminded them later on. But Johanna was already gone so how would they have been able to get it out?"

"They wouldn't have." He answers, stepping through the door into the dim hallway leading to the rickety steps that take us to the attic. "It probably doesn't work though. That is, if she hasn't taken it out herself." He adds.

"She hasn't." I shake my head, sitting at one of the computers, punching the power button in some form of hope that force will make it boot up faster. My fingers fly over the keyboard, entering the necessary passwords to access my personal work files. "There isn't a scar on her arm like there on mine."

"Maybe she had the Capitol remove it." He offers.

I shake my head again. "By then she was captivity in 13 and they wouldn't have wasted the important medicines and herbs on a little scar." I say, opening up various folders before finally coming upon the one that I copied illegally from Plutarch's computer. It kept a running count on all of the chips implanted in tributes' arms from the time of the Quarter Quell up through the 77th Hunger Games. The ones that were still working were indicated by little flashing lights. "See? Hers and Gale's are still working!" I exclaim.

"Then why haven't they found her yet?" he asks, pulling a chair up next to me.

"Because Plutarch has it turned off. If they weren't able to get it out of her they were at least going to turn it off." I explain. I open her file and turn on her chip.

"What now?" Peeta asks.

I shrug. "We wait for it to register and send out a signal. It can take several hours." I warn him.

"Sounds great." He says, putting his feet up on a nearby chair and reclining his head.

"Move over." I say, hiding him in the side to make him move. He obliges and wraps his arms around me, rubbing circles with his thumb on my shoulder.

He sighs in content. "Remember the last time we slept up here?"

"Of course. It was the night before Jesse came." I say. He laughs slightly.

"That was one heck of a day." He says, standing up. He walks over to a wooden chest pushed up against the wall and unlocks it. He pulls out an old scrapbook and blows the dust off. He plunks it down on my lap and reclaims his seat next to me.

I open it and smile at the baby picture of Jesse drawn by Peeta in the front cover. The next picture is one taken by a reporter of Peeta running out of the bakery on the day Jesse was born.

_Greasy Sae mixes some lemonade for me as Haymitch fiddles with the broken thermostat. "You know," this wouldn't be broken if it weren't for you needing your house to be the temperature of an ice box all the time." He says grumpily. _

"_Oh shut up and fix it." I command, reaching behind me to adjust the pillows supporting my lower back. _

_He rolls his eyes and begrudgingly accepts the glass of lemonade Greasy Sae holds out to him. She then comes over to me and sits at the other end of the sofa to massage my swollen feet. "He's just mad because the liquor train hasn't been around for two weeks and he's running low." She says quietly._

_I laugh and nod. "Maybe it'll do him some good. Help sober 'im up." I say, sipping delicately at my lemonade. _

"_I've had to be sober for about three months before and I'm not doing it again." He yells to us from the kitchen where he is slipping a couple drops of liquor into his lemonade._

_I roll my eyes and return my attention back to Greasy Sae. "We'll keep Peeta's secret stash in the art studio a secret." I whisper to her, nodding my head in the direction of his studio. She snickers and then gets worried when I shift again. "I'm fine. Really." I assure her. "My back just hurts and that is totally normal for a woman about to have a baby." _

_She nods, the worry not completely leaving her eyes. "Speaking of Peeta, where is he? You didn't send him hunting did you?"_

_I laugh and say, "No. He had to go to the bakery today to work on Sue and Jeb's wedding cake. Whoever they are. I swear, I haven't been in town so long there could be another whipping post and gallows set up and I wouldn't know it." I add lightly._

_Haymitch nearly drops his tools. "That's not funny." He tells me harshly._

"_Really? I found it hilarious." I say sarcastically. Even Greasy Sae looks uneasy. "Wow, where's Peeta when I really need him? At least he appreciates my sense of humor." I start to feel a cramp in my stomach and take it as a sign to have to use the bathroom. "I have to pee." I say, starting to stand up when I feel warm fluid slip down my legs. "Oh dang nabbit…" I mutter, allowing Greasy Sae to pull me up._

"_It's okay, I'll clean it up Katniss. Stretch your legs a bit." She says, holding on to my arms tightly until she is sure I am stable._

_I nod and start to walk over to the kitchen when I feel a faint pain in my lower stomach. "Um…" I say, not really knowing what else to say. "Help?" I whisper, confused. The pain gets a bit stronger and then disappears. _

_Haymitch looks at me seriously. "What is it?" he asks quickly, setting his tools down on the counter._

"_Hold on." I say, holding a finger up to him as I walk toward a stool sitting at the counter. "I think…" I start to say, my mind whirling in circles at what seems like a million miles per hour. "I think my water just broke." I say, looking over at Greasy Sae as if she can confirm it._

_Her eyes snap up to meet mine as she freezes, bent over the wet sofa. "Oh." She says, then she snaps into action. She walks over to me and grabs me by the elbow. "We have to get to the medical center. Is that your bag sitting on the steps?" she asks and I nod, starting to feel another pain._

"_Okay, Haymitch you need to run into town and get Peeta. Tell him that the baby is coming." She orders to Haymitch who seems to want to refuse but then thinks better. He sprints out the front door and down the sidewalk, out of sight._

_I look up at Greasy Sae as she guides me to the door. "I'm scared." I whisper to her, stopping in my tracks to the door when I see the swarm of reporters outside the house. "Oh no…" I whisper, backing up a bit as the pain intensifies but no more than the last one I felt._

"_Katniss, go sit down on the steps and wait. I'll call Haymitch's cell phone and tell him to get Peeta here." She tells me._

_After she hangs up the phone I sit and wait for about five minutes, enough time for another pain to come and go. I start to sweat as I hear shouts outside and see several camera flashes. I hear Peeta's familiar tenor voice and seconds later he bursts through the door. "Katniss!" he exclaims, kneeling down in front of me and wrapping his arms around me. "You okay?" he asks, his hand fluttering over my stomach._

"_That's such a stupid question." I breathe as I clutch him close to me. Then another pain comes. "Just get me to the medical center." I tell him._

_He nods quickly and takes my bag from Greasy Sae's hands. "You two wait here and I'll get rid of the reporters." He tells her and all I can do is nod. He runs out the front door and yells furiously at the paparazzi. The flashing stops and voices fade away in the distance as he comes back to me. He takes me by the shoulder and helps me stand. "Please stay with me." I plead to him quietly once I'm on my feet again, terrified that if I even blink when I'm at the medical centers the doctors will push him away._

"_Always." He promises with that serious passion flickering in his eyes like a warm winter fire, brushing his lips over my forehead lightly._

"Tomorrow is his birthday." I whisper, remembering suddenly. "Tyler's birthday is tomorrow." I tell him.

He nods grimly. "I don't have anything planned." He says sadly.

"I think we have a good excuse." I smile, patting his cheek lightly. "Is it too late to make a cake?" I ask him.

He laughs. "A bit." He then has an epiphany. "But I have something better than a cake." He says, standing up. He takes my hand and leads me back down the steps into his art studio. "He came and talked to me about Julie one day and I thought it would be nice for him to have something to give her for a special occasion. But I guess he would appreciate it more now." He comments, picking up a canvas.

It's almost an exact replica of the painting he'd done of Rue so many years beforehand but this time it was Julie with flowers framing her face. Her shining brown eyes pierced through the canvas, the brushes and colors so expertly blended to make it seem like an actual pair of eyes were there. "It's beautiful." I tell him. "And a little creepy but I'm sure he'll love it." I say, wrapping my arms around his waist, smothering my instant worry from being able to feel his ribs through his cotton t-shirt. Then I hear a beep from the secret room in the attic and meet his eyes, both of us thinking the same thing. We've got her.

We practically run up the steps, the painting temporarily forgotten on the floor of the studio. We sit in front of the computer and study the search results delivered about Johanna's location. "Oh my gosh." Peeta whispers.

"She's…_here._"

**I apologize yet again for being so late with updating. This past week was the championships for track at my school and the girls team won for their fourth consecutive year. So proud of all of them. It was so much fun even though I completely bombed on my event. Anyway, please review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	45. Chapter 45

_Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you. – Satchel Paige_

* * *

><p>There seems to be ten times the number of people in the town square of District 12 compared to the last year. Maybe it is the unseasonably warm temperatures that made it easier for people to travel or maybe it was that it is the worst possible scenario so some higher power decided to send all of the people from neighboring districts here. And it's true. It is the absolute worst case scenario, just like on the day that we were all caught in the Capitol during the first rebellion, totally unprepared and totally alone.<p>

Today is different though. Jesse and Marcus gathered all of their friends from District 13 and brought them here. When they arrived this morning, Haymitch and Peeta tested them to see if they had been hijacked or replaced by clones while I worked with Plutarch to form some sort of strategy. Marcus, Jesse, Ronny and Donny gathered all of the weapons they could find. Jacob helped Radiance gather all medical supplies stored in the various houses in Victor's Village and also prepared a spare house as a makeshift hospital for wounded people. We all looked at this as a bit of an extreme but we all knew that we would not escape a good fight. Johanna has formed an army; so we have too.

At six o'clock the party is in full swing. We deploy through the sewer tunnels that run underneath town. Jesse, Marcus, Tyler and some of the younger soldiers from 13 are dressed in normal clothes with weapons hidden underneath so they can go undercover in the party. Ronny and Donny impersonate Peacekeepers again. Peeta and I hide out next to the dumpster behind the bakery.

"Katniss." He whispers. I look over at him briefly and put a finger to my lips. I return my attention to the alley, trying to position my gun so that it is aimed but not out in the open. "Katniss!" he barks quietly.

"Peeta, not now!" I snap.

He sighs and then practically yells, "Katniss!"

"Oh my gosh, Peeta what?" I demand.

"Blood." He breathes out, pointing to the ground in front of us. "That isn't strawberry filling."

* * *

><p>Jesse walks through the crowd, using her pointy elbows to get people to move. When she finally makes it to the middle of the square she looks up at the roofs of the buildings and sees just what she had been planning to see. She knew that if her mother was still alive by the end of the night, she would kill her for doing this. If her mom wasn't alive, her dad would kill her. And if neither of them were alive, she'd kill herself.<p>

Marcus and Tyler were lost somewhere in the edges of the crowd, far away from her. The DJ was mixing songs up on his turntable and some of the younger kids in the district had snuck alcohol in. This wasn't really a kid even, which was normal. Jesse snuck out one night to party and had to go to school the next day with the worst hangover of her life because she didn't want her parents to think that she had gone out and partied all night. At least she wasn't the only one to be hungover in school that day though; almost everyone in her year had been partying too.

She raises her gun to point it at the rooftop of the bakery where she can see tiny imperfections in the black silhouette of the roof: guns, aimed on the crowd. She needs to cause this distraction if she wanted to find Johanna first so she could kill her. Jesse needed to be the one to kill her. Her finger tenses on the trigger just as she hears someone yell her name. She hesitates and a gunshot rings out, mixing to the music for those not aware of what was happening around them. She spins around, trying to see anyone sink to the ground. Another gunshot. She definitely isn't the one firing; her gun is still fully loaded.

Yet another gunshot. But no screams. Where are the shots aimed? At whom are these shots aimed? She hears someone yell her name again and seconds later she sees Marcus's head emerging from the crowd as he jumps up and down to find her. He spots her and pushes through everyone. "Jess, Johanna is in the meadow." He tells her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her in the right direction.

"How do you know?" she yells over the music and gunshots.

"I just do." He answers vaguely.

Jesse allows him to drag her out of the crowd before she makes her move. She stomps on his foot, knees him in the crotch and frees herself, sprinting back into the crowd. The gunshots are ringing out more frequently now and Jesse can now tell where they are coming from: behind the bakery. She hears the Marcus-clone yelling her name and now she knows that she can't trust anyone. Then a horrifying thought stops her in her tracks.

* * *

><p>Peeta and I run through the streets, trying to find the location of the gunshots. The blood was a distraction, a trap. There was no source for it there and upon closer inspection, it was from a mockingjay. We round a corner and see Jesse standing in the middle of an alley, also trying to figure out where the shots are coming from. "Jesse!" I exclaim.<p>

Peeta immediately hugs her tightly. "Anything yet?"

"No, I just scoped out the west end of town and found nothing. The meadow is totally clear too. Except for the fireworks guys of course." She explains.

I nod and pull Peeta toward me. "C'mon, we'll do another sweep just to be sure."

"Oh that's not really necessary." Jesse says.

Peeta and I look at each other. He nods subtly and starts to walk to the other end of the street, the one we were running toward. As if on cue, Jesse runs around the corner. The real Jesse. "What did you guys call me when I was a little girl?" she asks, her gun aimed right at us.

"Muffin bear." Peeta and I both say. It only takes a couple seconds for Jesse to land a bullet straight in her clone's forehead.

"Everyone is cloned." She explains, wiping sweat away from her face. "Marcus just tried to lead me to the meadow, saying Johanna is there."

"That's weird." I say. "Your clone was trying to keep us away from there."

"What if Johanna really is there?" Peeta asks. "And Jesse's clone was trying to keep us from the meadow because Marcus's clone was supposed to take you to the meadow because Johanna wants to kill you." He swallows.

"Where's Tyler?" I ask quickly, looking around the street as if he would actually come walking down this street because I said his name.

Peeta looks at me with a desperate look in his eyes that I've seen way too many times in the past years. "We have to go find him." He says.

"No." I say, making a quick decision. "You and Jesse go find him." I tell him.

"What about you?" he asks, getting even more desperate.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be okay. I'll figure out where these gunshots are coming from."

He steps toward me so that we are about a foot apart. Jesse rolls her eyes and turns away as Peeta rubs a soothing hand along the back of my neck. "I love you." He says, making it seem more like a promise than an endearment.

I nod and repeat it back to him. He kisses me fiercely, his lips lingering on mine. Then he does what neither of us wants to do: he lets go. "I won't lose her." He whispers.

"I know." I tell him, seeing the fear in my eyes echoing back through mine. "Find Tyler." I breathe, pushing him away from me lightly. He nods before running out of the alley with Jesse. I watch them go. As he gets to the end he stops and looks back at me, blowing me a kiss before sprinting away.

**I know it's been a really long time, I'm sorry. Please don't forget to review!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	46. Chapter 46

_Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you'll be a mile away…and you'll have their shoes._

Peeta is dumbfounded and angry and upset and completely unstable. I turn my back one minute and she leaves, he keeps thinking. He doesn't know whether to try to find Katniss, Tyler, or Jesse. He tries to think like Katniss and wonders what she would do. Within seconds he has his answer and sets out to look for their kids. The first place he goes is the meadow and immediately finds Jesse.

She is fighting Johanna to the death obviously. Both of them have their fair share of injuries but Jesse is still going strong. Peeta sprints toward them and makes a good punch to the ribs. Johanna doubles over for breath and Peeta takes those couple moments to talk to Jesse. "Go get your mom. Then find Tyler." He says, watching Johanna carefully.

"But what about you?" she asks quickly.

"Just do as I say!" he barks at her. She quickly retreats.

Johanna stands up to her full height, laughing. "Well isn't this a nice little treat?" she asks. "I wasn't expecting you to be the first one to come here but you are, so I guess you'll be the first to go in your family."

"You're not killing any of us." He says, starting to circle her. She mimics her footsteps.

"I have to admit, your daughter put a pretty good fight. I mean, she was professionally trained but she is still quite something, is she not?" she pauses. "You, on the other hand…I haven't had the pleasure to fight you yet, physically at least." Peeta gulps but doesn't advance toward her, waiting until the last possible moment so Katniss can jump in. It isn't because he's scared – which he kind of is – but he knows that this is a fight for Katniss to fight, not him. "I suppose you've figured out my little plan by now, right?" she asks.

"You kind of forced me to. I had a lot of time to think while I was in the arena." He tells her.

She laughs again. "And yet you never told your wife."

"She would have never believed it." He says. "It's all pretty fantastical…which I guess is why you loved your little plot so much. I mean, make a clone of yourself and send it into the second Games? You knew Katniss would win and start the huge rebellion. But really, you started it. You proposed the plan to Plutarch. Then when Katniss became the Mockingjay you were jealous out of your mind so you tried it all over again. You also tried to break us apart – thank you for that," he adds sarcastically, "and that didn't work. And it just went downhill after that, right?"

"I knew only someone as sick and twisted as me would be able to figure it out." She says, admiring him openly.

"Except that part of me is locked away forever." He says defensively.

She shakes her head. "I wouldn't say that exactly. I know you are just waiting for the perfect opportunity to rip my throat out. But it's not my fault Peeta." She says, reaching into one of her pockets and pulling something out. It's golden and seems to float out of her hand and into the air: a tracker-jacker. "Don't you see that it's Katniss who led to all of this? If I had been the Mockingjay your family would still be alive, you wouldn't be certifiably insane and you would be happy."

He watches the tracker-jacker flit around his head, waiting to strike. "I am happy." He growls. But he can feel it. That part of him that was so carefully locked away inside of him, it was bursting forth in small spurts. He had little control over it.

"Are you? You're happy, having no control over your emotions. You're happy with having to go through the Games three times. You're happy…to only be standing on one leg? Think about it Peeta, it all goes back to her." She taunts.

That's all it takes. She knows she struck a chord and is prepared for it when he breaks their careful dance and springs forth toward her. His hands close around her throat and she takes a knife and stabs his forearm. He lets go quickly and pulls his gun. She aims a good roundhouse kick to his hand and knocks it out of his grasp. He tackles her and starts to pound any inch of flesh he could get his hands on. She throws him off and stands up, pointing her gun at him.

She shoots him in the foot first. She laughs as he yelps in pain, blood instantly spurting forth. Then she shoots him in the hip, making him cry out even louder. "I promise to make this one hurt as little as possible." She says sweetly with a demonic smile plastered on her face, aiming the gun to his forehead.

Peeta opens his eyes long enough to see an arrow fly through her chest. She looks in the direction from which it came from and gasps in shock. She staggers back several feet before finally falling to the ground.

* * *

><p>I run toward Peeta without even thinking to check for further threats in the meadow. Jesse and Tyler can take care of them anyway. He's trying his best to staunch the flow of blood from his side but he's getting weaker by the second. "Someone find Radiance!" I yell to Jesse and Tyler. Jesse must be the one to go because Tyler comes and sinks down on his knees next to Peeta, looking helpless.<p>

I get to work on his foot, wrapping a ripped part of my jacket around the wound after removing the bullet. "Katniss…" he whispers.

"Shh, it's going to be okay." I say, shifting my priorities to the more serious wound in his side. Tyler strips off his shirt and presses it into Peeta's side, keeping strong pressure. He gives me a look that says I need to say my goodbyes and I know it from the ashen parlor on Peeta's face.

I grip his left hand in mine, feeling his silver wedding band press into my hand. After all of these years it had never come off; I had lost mine so many times I could no longer count. "Peeta…" I sob faintly.

He looks at me with tears falling from his eyes. "You have to go on Katniss." He tells me quietly. "Take care of Tyler and Jesse. Get far away from Panem. Take Haymitch with you; somewhere he can drink all he wants." He smiles wryly.

I shake my hand. "No, you're going to live." I insist, tears running out of my eyes and onto our clasped hands.

"Katniss, we can only cheat death so many times." He says honestly. "I've run out of lives."

"But why not me?" I ask, not meaning to say it out loud.

He's crying too now. "Because you're the fire that lights up my world. You're strong and honest and brave and the most incredible person I know. When I look at you I see the girl on fire because you _are _the girl on fire." He tells me.

I shake my hand. "Only as long as I have you."

"You have so much more than me though. Maybe in the beginning that was the case but you have so much more now. You have Jesse and Tyler and Plutarch and let's not forget about Haymitch. He'll never admit it but he loves you like a daughter."

"But you are my life. We're a package deal Peeta. One of us can only live as long as the other is alive."

"Not you. Maybe that's the case with me but you have always been stronger than me. I've been obsessed with you for so long I don't know how not to live without you." He pauses to gather his breath. "Please Katniss, take care of them. Get out of here."

I whimper as I see Radiance running toward us. "Please…don't leave me." I plead desperately.

"We knew this day would come Katniss." He assures me. "It has to be me." He's crying just as much as I am. "I love you so much. Never forget that."

"I won't." I promise. "I love you more than anything on this planet." I tell him, burying my face in his neck. I kiss our hands and lay my head in the crook between his neck and shoulder. Jesse runs forward and sits next to Tyler. Peeta uses his other arm to hug them as they both start crying. "Please be good for your mother." He tells them.

Radiance stands helpless as the sounds of gunshots finally stop and the music is turned up a little bit louder. Haymitch runs toward us and kneels down next to me, wrapping an arm around me and adding his hand to mine and Peeta's. "Take care of Katniss Haymitch." He says to him.

"I will." Haymitch promises.

He nods and looks back to me. He's stopped crying. "I…love you…so much. You made me…the…happiest man…alive…Mrs…Mell…ark." His body shuddered out one last breath before he finally becomes lost to me forever.

**I cried when I wrote that. And yes, Peeta really did die. He's not coming back to life because I know I've given a lot of false alarms. Please review. Next is the epilogue!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


	47. Chapter 47

_Where there is great love, there are great miracles. – Willa Cather_

* * *

><p>Paris is having an unseasonably rainy summer, Jesse decides. She parks her rented SUV outside the beautiful townhouse, ducking her head so rain would not wash into her eyes. She looked up at the house, warmly lit inside with dark green vines crawling up the front. There was primrose planted along the front exterior and a little pond next to the pebble sidewalk with katniss plants growing in it.<p>

A dark figure appears in the window, only a silhouette with the dark skies reflecting off of the windows. The figure disappears and a couple seconds later a man steps out the front door with a rain jacket on. He pulls the hood up over his head and runs to the car. Jesse folds him into a warm hug, rocking back and forth underneath the shelter of the open trunk hatch. "Tyler…" she sighs into his shoulder.

He pulls away, smiling his dopey smile. "Hey Jess." He says sheepishly.

"What happened to you?" she laughs, stepping back to look at him. "You're jacked!" she exclaims, still laughing.

He shrugs. "So I needed a distraction from math every once in a while." He says innocently, lifting her overly large duffel from the trunk of the SUV with ease. "The army hasn't made you a lighter packer?" he jokes, pulling an umbrella out of his pocket to hand it to her.

She opens it and follows him into the house, absorbing the warm and cozy atmosphere. She takes off her jacket and hangs it up on the coat rack before walking down the small hallway to the kitchen and dining area, boots clicking on the wood floors. "Mom?" she calls before stepping through the door.

"In the kitchen." She hears her mother call. Jesse walks down the narrow hallway and into the warm kitchen. After not seeing her mother for a couple years Jesse is shocked to see how much she has aged. Her hair has gone gray at the temples, she has frown lines around her eyes and mouth, her braid is unkept and frazzled. Jesse hugs her mom tightly, freshly surprised by how thin she is. "Your brother is making dinner." She explains, knowing that Jesse was surprised to see her in the kitchen. "So why the sudden and impromptu visit?"

Jesse hesitates and sighs. Tyler walks in and sits at the counter next to where she's standing, scooping some icing out of a bowel into his mouth with his finger. "We have something for you." She finally says.

Katniss sits at the counter across from Jesse and Tyler. Jesse sits as well. "It's from…Dad." She adds.

"We've had it for a while. But we didn't know how to give it to you." Tyler quickly explains, looking between Jesse and Katniss.

"We found it when we were moving your stuff out of the house." Jesse takes it out of her large purse, sliding it over the cream and blue tiled counter. "We figured that we should both be here when we give it to you."

The small canvas oil painting sat in front of Katniss for several long moments. She picked it up and held it in her hands tightly, running her fingers lightly over the strokes of paint still visible after so much time. She could remember exactly when he'd been painting it. "Excuse me." She says, standing up, grabbing her raincoat, and stepping outside.

She walks down the small alley running behind her house, holding the painting close to her body underneath her raincoat.

"_What are you working on?" she asks, standing in the doorway of his new studio. His paints were barely unpacked, canvases still in their protective plastic sleeves. _

_He turns to her, looking at her with happiness pouring from his eyes. The sun shines through the window behind him, framing his blonde hair like a halo. He grins mischievously. "You'll find out." He says, subtly moving his stool over to hide the small canvas behind him._

_She rolls her eyes and walks toward him. "What is so important that you leave me, from where I am lying in bed, the day after our wedding?" she asks, maintaining eye contact._

"_Something that I want to do now, and save it for our seventy-fifth wedding anniversary." He says honestly, running his hands over her shoulders._

_She sighs and steps closer to him. "You know, maybe we'll just skip that year. Seventy-five has never really been a good number for us." She reminds him. "How about…seventy-four? After all, without the seventy-fourth Hunger Games I don't think I'd be standing with you right now."_

"_Oh I would've charmed you eventually." He says confidently. "You would have been starving, and I would finally work up the courage to talk to you. So I would hear of your imminent death from Greasy Sae or Darius or even my father and I would purchase one of our cakes with my own money – and it would be red velvet of course, your favorite – and run over to your house to deliver it to you and save your life and nurse you back to health after that."_

_She nods approvingly. "Doesn't sound so bad. Except for the part about me dying. I'm not sure if I like that part."_

"_It's just the first thing that came to mind." He says. "Katniss!" he suddenly exclaims._

"_Peeta!" she mimics his voice. _

_He stands up and lifts her off the ground, spinning her around. "I remembered! Just like that, I remembered all of it!" he shouts victoriously. "My whole childhood, unblemished, real…" he sighs, catching his breath._

_Tears gather in her eyes. "Oh I'm so happy for you!" she says, kissing his neck. "How?" she asks._

"_I don't know." He shakes his head. "It's like, something in me snapped and I just saw it all, there in front of me."_

"_Are you going to paint it?" she teases._

_He shakes his head again and sets her down but not loosening his grip on her. "No. I think I'm going to finish this one first. But no peeking, promise?"_

_She nods and rolls her eyes._

"_Because when we're old, and surrounded by our beautiful children who will throw us the most outrageous seventy-fourth anniversary party, and you are complaining to me about have to be sociable and dressed up, I want to give it to you to remind you of where we started." He muses. "And I promise you, it will be the painting you hate the most."_

Katniss genuinely does hate this painting, but for all of the right reasons. She is not receiving it in the manner that he had promised, surrounded by family and friends. Her only family and friends are in her kitchen. They mean the world to her but like she had with so many other important people in her life, she pushes them away.

Peeta held nothing back when he created this painting. He had painted her in her wedding dress and fancy make-up flawlessly, just like he had with Rue in her bed of flowers. He had captured the light gleaming off of her brand-new wedding band perfectly, contrasting with the dark green stems of the katniss flowers he had envisioned her holding.

On the back, he had written a message to her.

_Dear Katniss,_

_If I had to write how I felt to you in this message I would need a bigger canvas…the biggest in the world. My feelings for you are exponential and I know you feel the same for me._

_Yesterday we got married. I know you pity me in that what I remember of my childhood is dim but you have to understand that any memory would be dim in comparison to yesterday. _

_I hope that when you first receive this painting you hate it. To me, you hating my paintings is the biggest compliment I could ever hear. If you don't hate it, then I'm sorry I failed to invoke that part of your soul that is so full of compassion it's dangerous to even touch it._

_If I'm not there with you as you're reading it, know that I love you. I love you so, so much. Never, ever pity that I don't remember exactly what happened the first time we met. If you do, there's nothing to regret. For me, loving you is all I need. I don't care if I can't even remember my name. You love me and that's all I need in life. _

_If I've moved on from this life Katniss, please remember that if it weren't for you I would have died long ago. Don't feel bad that you couldn't save me, because simply giving me the time of day saved me. _

_I love you, and don't you forget it._

_Peeta_

**That's it! The end! Thank you so much for reviewing, you've been a great audience! Review one last time please!**

**~PennStateGRL4eva~**


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